The Maria Files
by ChaoticNights
Summary: Completed! Look out for the Sequel: Nightmare City, coming soon to a computer near you! File 10: The final showdown between the Foxes and Shadow and Sonic commences!
1. Entry 1 Memories to Come

**The Maria Files**

Authors note: Yeah, I know. The complaints are probably 'This doesn't go along with the story line' or 'you have no idea what you're doing' or 'JEEZ you're confusing', but I can't help that. And don't copy my story line or my characters. I will find you. evil laughter there's no safe place from me!!!

_File 1- Sonata no Kokoro (Nobody Knows Your Heart)_

_Entry 1- Memories to Come_

* * *

…Inside Space Colony ARK…

Shadow the hedgehog stood, quietly, by a window facing Earth. Shadow was a red and black hedgehog, created by Professor Gerald Robotnik. He was the ultimate life form…

Shadow looked down at Earth. Before, when Maria was there, with him, he had looked down on Earth with hope. When he had been awakened after fifty years of captivity, and Maria taken from him, probably- most likely- gone…nonexistent except for in his quickly recessing memories, he looked at Earth with contempt and anger. Revenge for the death of a loved one…Now he didn't know what to think, looking down on Earth. He knew that he had saved the people. He knew that he didn't belong there. He knew Maria wasn't there. But he wanted to go back because that's where Maria wanted to go…and a part of him hoped Maria was down there, looking for him in the Space colony ARK.

Space Colony Ark had been shut down for years, and then…then the Doctor came. Shadow recalled the doctor easily. The grandson of Shadow's creator, Doctor Robotnik was also a skilled mechanic and scientist. He had freed Shadow from his confines in the military base. He had gotten so close to destroying the world before they all decided to save it. When the Space Colony's Final Lizard had been defeated at last, Shadow had hidden from everyone in the control room. He didn't know what to think then. So confused…it was so strange how he wanted to destroy the world but he couldn't do it! Did that mean he was not the ultimate life form?

The Chaos Emeralds had left so much energy in the Space Colony that it should have been functioning for the next few years. But it wasn't. The power had stopped coming a few hours ago.

Shadow's eyes had gotten used to the darkness, but he knew that he would need the light. The dull blue glow of the Earth would not sustain his needs. And it wasn't like he could live in the one room anyway. Shadow turned and left the room. As the door locked shut behind him, Shadow watched the dull blue disappear, quietly, from the walls of the hallways inside ARK. The control room. He'd have to reach the control room to turn on the power again. And he already knew the password: MA-RI-A…Maria.


	2. Entry 2 Bringing Dark into Light

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I bet you guys are wondering why the first entry was so short. I'm sorry. I'm just really REALLY lazy. Besides that, I was playing a game. Sowwies. Anyway, Most of the Entry will be about that long, but I make them in groups, like entry 1-5 will all go up together and all that stuff…so basically it's a good amount of reading…and typing…and chasing my cat away from my keyboard… Yeah, you know how it is…or something. So! Enjoy part 2!

_File 1- Sonata no Kokoro (Nobody Knows Your Heart) _

_ Entry 2- Bringing the Dark into Light_

* * *

…inside Space Colony ARK control room…

The doors of the Space Colony ARK's Control room slid open with no noise, silent as the dark surrounding them. In walked Shadow, the ultimate creation of Professor Gerald Robotnik. He was looking for the reason of the power loss of the Space Colony, because after the destruction of Professor Gerald's dying attempt to destroy the planet for taking his granddaughter, Maria, away, the Chaos Emeralds used to power up the cannon that would destroy the world left enough power to leave the Colony running for years to come. But for some reason, the power had stopped coming, and Shadow had to find out why.

The skinny platform that led up to the super computer was dimly lit. Shadow made his way across easily and walked up to the computer. The computer was the only thing that did not run on the energy form the ship. It was solar powered, so that it would always work. The Professor couldn't bear to lose any information that he had come up with, and the Colony, although the best of it's time, was still quite unstable, and the power would shut off and Shadow and Maria were left in the darkness as the Professor would type on, indifferent to the darkness, until Shadow would tell him the power was off, and he would fix it in a flash. Shadow smiled at that memory, and took at look at the computer screen.

The Energy was still in the Ark, but something was using up all the energy in the Colony. Shadow took a close look at the whole colony's energy supply. Most of the rooms had no power at all. Of course the super computer had energy, and a couple of the rooms, like the small room Maria slept in had energy too. There was something in a dark room that was pulsating with energy, which must have been whatever was sucking up the energy of the Colony. But what was it? Shadow read the name of the room to himself. It was…the Professor's lab.

Was Something inside the room using the energy for the same purpose as the Bio Lizard of the Space Colony before? What was using the energy? And…how was it alive?


	3. Entry 3 Releasing Energy

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: Oh my god. Awful week. I hope it doesn't effect the story. I haven't worked on it since my cpu went haywire since last week, so yeah. Anyway. I've been thinking about making longer entries. And then I was like, Hey, they don't know how many entries in a file! So I decided to tell you! I know, I'm a genius. Each file has ten entries. Each file has ONE main character. For example, Sonata No Kokoro's main character is Shadow. Shadow could be repeated as the main character in the next files…Yeah, I know, I have no life. But you know what? I'm writing the damned story!

Oh darn. Now I have to change the rating of this story… Okay, this is now a Pg-13 story!Nah, it's G rated until I put romance or something in it… Oh god this is the longest author's note EVER. I give my self a thumbs up. Okay. On with our newest entry.

_File 1- Sonata no Kokoro (Nobody Knows Your Heart)_

_Entry 3- Releasing Energy_

* * *

Shadow hurried to the Professor's Lab. If he could shut off the thing that was causing the energy misflow, would the lights turn on? Would the thing inside shut off for good? And just what was that thing anyway?

His shoes clanked against the hallway's dark metal floor. If he hurried, there would be enough energy in the whole ship to last a couple more years. He hoped he wouldn't be too late….

The door to the Professor's Lab! Password: MA-RI-A and Shadow was in. He hadn't been in there for a while. The Professor never did have a sense of cleanliness. Shadow remembered how messy the room always was…but looking at it now…it was too new. The lights, though on, were dim, and Shadow saw a machine. It was dark and gloomy looking, as Shadow moved closer he noticed the window was tinted darkly as well.

A Panel, covered in buttons, stood beside the machine. Several blinked and flashed, some weren't blinking at all. Shadow didn't know what to press. He stared at the buttons and sighed. What a problem…

Finally, Shadow pushed a rapidly blinking green button. The Machine made a creaking noise, and suddenly, the panel went dark. The lights flickered off and Shadow was left standing in darkness. He stood, staring at where the machine was, not blinking. The Machine kept making strange noises, as if it was about to explode or something.

The lights turned back on in a brilliant flash. Shadow blinked, rubbed his eyes and blinked some more.

"What the…" He said, shading his eyes to look up at the lights. But they weren't on…No…it was the machine that had made such a brilliant flash!

Shadow stepped backwards cautiously. The machine shook gently, then with a tremendous lurch, it burst open-

And out came…


	4. Entry 4 Reborn?

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: Isumo1489 (my wonnerful reviewer) Thank you very very much! I shall try to update a little more while playing video games. I wubbers reivews!

So if you're reading this review and I'll wub you forever! And tell your friends. And…all the other people in your life. Word. So now I'm done. Here comes entry four!

_File 1- Sonata No Kokoro (Nobody Knows Your Heart)_

_Entry 4- Reborn?_

* * *

Shadow stared. "You…" He said, softly. "You again."

The machine had expelled a great amount of smoky vapors that curled the thing inside in misty veils. But Shadow could see the body of whatever it was, but it was vague. It was taller than he was, and it had…tails? So then… it was… It had to be…

Shadow tried to think back. He remembered it, didn't he? Yes. It was that thing, that fox.

"Why are you here?" Shadow asked, angrily.

"Why… am I here?" Asked the figure. Shadow blinked. That voice! It wasn't the fox boy at all! It was Maria, wasn't it?

"Maria?" Shadow asked, bewildered.

"Maria." It repeated.

"Is that…?" He shook his head. Shadow knew Maria was human and not fox. " What are you?"

"I am…" the voice said, slowly. "I am Miserie. I am…"

"Miserie?" Shadow repeated. "What is that?" Shadow thought back again, but he couldn't place that name with any memory.

"…Professor Gerald Robotnik…told me to…"

"The Professor?" Shadow asked, suddenly excited. "What did he say?"

"He said to play with Maria. Didn't he? But then…She was gone, so I never…" the smoke cleared, slowly, as it talked.

Shadow stepped forward. "Miserie." He said. A little fox was standing on a platform coming from the machine. The platform was broken and wobbling, but the fox seemed quite stable. The fox was black, like Shadow, but it had a white muzzle and a stripe of gray over its left eye, like a scar. It had a white strip behind it's ears. It was wearing a dress that was torn and tattered like a rag. The little fox looked at him with big green eyes. She blinked, and then she stepped off of the platform. Shadow gave her a small smile. "Welcome aboard Space Colony ARK."


	5. Entry 5 Crimson Tears

**The Maria Files**

Authors' note: I don't like my last entry, but heck with it! I like this entry much!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO COME READ THIS STORY!

FAQ: Will Maria show up in this story?

At some point Maria will show up, okay? I just need the right opportunity. I know I had everyone going on entry 3, didn't I?

_File 1- Sonata No Kokoro (Nobody Knows Your Heart)_

_Entry 5- Crimson Tears_

* * *

A few days after Shadow released Miserie from the confines of the machine…

"Shadow!" Miserie called, from the hallway. Shadow was staring out at the Earth again, and when the door opened, Miserie cast a long shadow across the floor along with a flood of light. Annoyed, Shadow turned around.

"What?" He asked, sounding angry. He glared at Miserie, who was frowning.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked. She tugged at her overalls. She had switched from the tattered and torn dress to overalls that she had found in the Professor's lab.

Shadow sighed. Miserie, although sometimes annoying, was still the closest he could get to Maria, and he could never be mad at Maria. He smiled. "I'm not mad."

"Okay." Miserie said with a big smile. But then she frowned again. "We have…a problem."

Shadow blinked and frowned as well. "What?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"Well…" She said, "I was looking at the energy levels on the main computer, and"

"Why were you doing that?" Shadow asked.

"I…" Miserie thought, then said, "I don't know why. But I looked, and it seems that an outside force has turned on our security cameras, and they take up more energy than the lights do! To turn them off would be murder, because then they'd know we were up here! Shadow, if we don't leave soon, there will be people after us!"

Shadow stared at Miserie. Wasn't she made to be a toy for Maria? Then why…How did she know all of this? "You're right. We should get out of here. I think there's a pod that will bring us down to earth. If we go there, no one will find us. Or if they do, they'll just…do what they did before."

"Have you been to Earth before?" Miserie asked. She blinked her big green eyes twice. "Never mind. Let's get going. If we shut off the lights, maybe they'll think the energy supply is going down."

Shadow shook his head. "I don't understand how you got all this information."

Miserie smiled. She said nothing.

Shadow walked past her into the hallway. "Where's the camera?" He asked. He looked down the hallway to his right.

Miserie pointed at a camera farther away at his left. "Some of the camera's are destroyed. That one is working."

"Let's go." Shadow said, turning back into the room to stare at Earth once more.

"Which way is the pod?" Miserie asked.

"No, to Maria's room." Shadow said softly. "There's something I need."

Miserie nodded. "Okay." She said. Maria's room was by the camera. So they would have to go to the left and circle the colony.

The two inched down the hall and stood under the camera. Maria's room was a corridor away. Miserie nodded when the camera turned towards the room they were previously in. Shadow grabbed Miserie's wrist and dashed down the hallway to the next one. They stood in the shadows of the corridors.

"There's the next camera," Miserie said. "Maria's room isn't in its view."

"Okay." Shadow said. Both of them sneaked under the camera. Miserie nodded, and they both went running towards Maria's room. The door opened without a noise. Maria's room was unlit,but Shadow knew where the lights were. Shadow started to walk in but Miserie caught his hand and pulled him back.

"No!" she cried, looking into the dark room.

"What?" shadow asked, looking at Miserie. Her eyes were wide and filled with horror as she stared into the dark room.

"It's full of…" Miserie stared and gulped. "Blood."

Shadow looked into the room. It was too dark to see anything. "How do you know? The lights are off."

"But…the blood…don't you see? It's there…it's everywhere!"

Shadow shook his head. "I think you're imagining things." He said. He started to walk in.

"NO!" Miserie cried, and she pulled him back. Shadow glared at her.

"What is WRONG with you?" He asked. She let go of his hand and started crying, covering her eyes with her hands. Shadow stared at her, then pried her hands away from her face.

Her hands were red. Her face was red. And she was crying…blood.


	6. File 2 Entry 1 Cosmic Eternity

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: Kudos to myself, I like that last chapter! So. Now I have to get people to actually read my five chapter story. Joy. But I've had issues with my stupid internet so it'll be a while. Sad, no? Oh yeah! This is the Second File! Woo! Kudos again!

_File 2- Dou Naru no? (What's going on?)_

_Entry 1-Cosmic Eternity_

* * *

Ever since he was a boy, he hadn't known them…and now he had the chance to meet them? Tails turned over the handwritten sweetly scented letter to read 'Love your mother, Rosemary.'

"You finally get to meet them! You finally get to meet your parents!" Amy Rose, Tails' pink hedgehog friend, cried happily. "I'm so happy for you, Tails!"

Tails looked blankly at the letter. "Meet Mom…" he said, softly.

Sonic grinned, and gave Tails a thumbs up. "Even if it IS just your mom," he said, "You get to meet her right?"

"…I can't believe this. I mean, how did she…where is…But we aren't even"

"Tails!" Amy said, with her hands on her hips. Tails looked at Amy, who shook her head. "I can't believe you." She continued. "Your mom writes a letter to you and you're wondering all of this stuff! Just go meet her, Tails! She's waiting for you! Look, there's the address there." Amy pointed to the envolpe, on Tails' desk. It was pink, and was sitting next to a picture of a baby tails, held in the arms of a young couple of foxes. "She's ALIVE, Tails. She's really alive!"

Tails put the letter down on the desk.

Sonic dropped his grin. "What's wrong?" he asked Tails worriedly.

"It's just…" Tails said, slowly. "I guess I always thought that my mom and dad were in the Zone of Silence, like Sally's dad was. I always thought that I had to free them…But she's here. And I guess she saw us in the newspapers and then she decided to write. But I'm so confused. How did she get here? Where is my Dad?"

Sonic looked at Amy, who looked back at Sonic with a blank expression. The room was silent.

Tails picked up the picture of his baby self. "Maybe I'll just write back. Maybe I'll tell her I'm busy. I mean, it's not lying. I've got some repairs to finish anyway. I'm sure she won't mind if I…"

"But Tails!" Amy said, slamming her hands on Tails' desk, which made Tails drop the picture of himself into his lap. "Don't you understand?! This is your mother! She probably thinks you'll come running back to her!"

"But I never knew her!" Tails pointed out, sadly. "I've dreamt of meeting my parents, but I always thought…I mean, Sonic, weren't they changed into robots? Weren't they in trouble?"

Sonic nodded. "Your dad was turned into a robot, but I never heard about your mom."

"When did…this happen?" Amy asked.

"A long time ago." Tails said. He opened a drawer in his desk and took out a sheet of paper and a pen. "I'm going to write back."

"Okay." Sonic said. "It's better than not saying anything, I guess."

"…I didn't know your dad became a robot. I'm sorry." Amy said.

Tails shook his head. "It's okay." He started writing. "Dear Mom…"


	7. File 2 Entry 2 Tell Me

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I know, I know. What does file one and file two have to do with each other? And how cone there are only five entries and not ten? To answer the first: Well, I suspect you'd have to read to find out, eh? Actually, you'll see…soon… how they fit together. And to nanswer the second, I was just too lazy… Read and review, then I'll visit you and read your stuff! XD I love to read, so if you'd like to tell me about your favorite fanfic of yours or your friends TELL ME! I want to see it!

Read. Review. Call your friends. Tell them. Make them read. Make them review.

_File 2- Dou Naru No? (What's Going On?)_

_

* * *

_

Tails looked at the floor. Thousand of crumpled papers that had missed the wastebasket crowded the floors surrounding his desk. Sighing, he read his next letter aloud.

'_Dear Mom,_

_It was nice to hear from you. I really want to come see you, but I am very busy. Maybe you could write to me again? I would love to hear from you. But…I don't understand everything that happened. How did you get here? Was I born here? And…if I wasn't, where was I born?_

_Where's Dad? Did he get turned into a robot? Why didn't you? What's his name?_

_How did you find me? Was it from the newspaper? How did you know it was me?_

_Thank you for the picture of us. I really like it. My friend Amy framed it for me, and I have a picture of me and all my friends to send back to you. There's a separate picture of my best friend, Sonic. He's the one who's been with me since I was a kid. I hope you like them. I also sent another picture of me, in case you clipped out the one from the newspaper._

_I love you too, Mom._

_Love,_

_Miles Prower'_

Tails shook his head. 'Too many questions.' He thought to himself. He crumpled the paper and tried to shoot into the wastebasket. The paper ball hit the rim and fell off. Tails sighed.

He didn't know why he wasn't happy to hear from his mother. All his life, he had dreamt of finding his parents. Now, one of them had found him, and he was upset. Shouldn't he be happy?

Come to think of it, he hadn't been feeling himself for the past few weeks. It started the week that Sonic and Knuckles and he went to Space colony Ark with Amy, Rouge, Shadow, and Eggman. He hadn't heard from Knuckles, and Sonic and Amy visited his garage very often. But he felt lonely.

When Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge threatened to destroy the earth, Tails had decided to do the best he could, because he promised Sonic he would. But…Some how, that made him upset. Sonic never left ANYTHING up to him. Sonic was a really good friend, but he liked to do things his own way. Tails was constantly left in the dust, literally and figuratively, when Sonic saved the day. So…did that mean that Sonic could do it all…on his own?

This confused Tails, but he knew that with out him, Sonic would still be back in the Freedom Fighter's Knothole.

Tails sighed. Back then…

No time to think. He had to make a new letter for his mother.


	8. File 2 Entry 3 Who Are You?

**The Maria Files**

Authors note: Background Noise, thanks very much for your review! Woo! I love you all!

I think I have problems. With games. I love to play games. But that's not the problem. Has anyone played Final Fantasy? That's an awesome series. Well, sometime, characters die or leave you…and I know- I should feel sad but instead… I think…

LEAVE ME ALL YOUR EQUIPMENT WHEN YOU'RE GONE, OKAY?!

And then I feel bad when I think that.

Didn't someone else say that? I don't know. But this is how I actually feel, so don't blame me of anything mean here. I'm just a sad, sad person.

_File 2- Dou Naru No? (What's Going On?)_

_Entry 3-Who Are You?

* * *

_

'I shouldn't think badly of Sonic.' Tails thought to himself. 'I know he doesn't always have a lot on his mind, but he's always watched out for me. It's not like he doesn't think I can handle it. It's just that he doesn't want me to get hurt. Right?'

"TAILS!" Tails jumped and turned around. Sonic was standing by the curb, soaking wet. They had just walked to the library. Sonic had gone because Tails had asked him to. Tails had gone to check out a book, but it wasn't there, so he had put in on hold. Now they were walking home. Tails' didn't understand why Sonic was wet until her felt the raindrops falling from the tree onto his head.

"Sorry!" Tails said, taking an umbrella out of his book bag. "I was thinking about something."

"No doubt about it," Sonic said, shaking himself off. "I just got hit by the water there," Sonic pointed to a big puddle by the curb, "but you didn't laugh like you usually do. And plus, we've been walking without an umbrella since we left the library!"

Tails opened the umbrella, which had his logo on it, and continued to think. 'Why does he think I'm so weak? Hypothetically, I mean.'

"Hey." Sonic said. Tails looked at him.

"what happened? Did you get splashed again?"

"What? No! You would laugh at that, wouldn't you? No, I wanted to know what you're thinking about."

"huh?"

"Well.." Sonic said, scratching his head like he did when he was embarrassed, "You've been thinking pretty hard. You never ask for help, you know."

Tails smiled. "Well…" He said, slowly. "I was thinking about Ark again." Tails recalled a newspaper article he had read at the library. "Did you see yesterday's paper?"

"I didn't. Why?"

"They've turned on security cameras up there. Seems like they think Eggman's up there."

"Yeah, I haven't heard from him since Ark." Sonic said. He sighed. "I think it was fun, Ark. Some parts of that adventure anyway."

"Me too." Tails said. He looked up into the gray, cloudy skies. "but… somehow, Ark isn't finished yet, is it?"

"Whaddya mean?" Sonic asked.

"It keeps popping up. I mean, it's only been a few weeks since it ended…but we're still hearing about it. Usually, when we beat Eggman, we only hear about it for two or three more days."

"Yeah?" Sonic asked. "Why? What's up there?"

"I don't know." Tails said. "I'm sure it's nothing. Just people who want to see Professor Gerald's work."

Sonic spotted a blue mailbox. "Hey, have you wrote to your mom yet?"

"…I can't." Tails said. "It's so hard. I don't know what to say."

Sonic smiled at Tails. "Come on, buddy! You can do it!" He said. "If you can't think of anything to ask, just ask Me and Amy for help!"

"No, I mean- I know what I'm asking but- It just doesn't- I mean, there is so much I want to"

"Hey!" Sonic exclaimed, as they turned up the sidewalk to their house. "Just calm down. Tell her how you've been. Ask her questions about herself. You can ask everything else in person. Send her a picture of you. It'll be fine, Tails."

'It'll be fine…' Tails thought. 'Will it? Mom… who ARE you…?'


	9. File 2 Entry 4 Sent Away

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: Want to know something about me? I'm a musician. That's right. I play music. Strange as it sounds. Well, Sonic the Hedgehog has GREAT music. Do you notice? I'm also interested in computer graphics. And Sonic the Hedgehog has GREAT graphics. Even for the old games, they had good music and great graphics. Yesh. Well, my favorite band is Crush 40, a band that played LOADS of sonic songs. And my favorite musician is Jun Senoue.

I'm such a stalker. I know almost everything you can find online about Jun Senoue. Like he works for the Sonic Team, but he's still in WaveMaster. And he comes up with music everywhere. And how great he is to work with. So what's my goal? I want to play music with Jun Senoue. That would be a REAL privilege, you know? So now you know who my idol is. A guy named Jun Senoue.

_File 2- Dou Naru No? (What's Going On?)_

_Entry 4- Sent Away

* * *

Tails scribbled on a piece of paper, unsure of what to tell his mother. He didn't know her. Did he love her? Did he miss her?_

But…

Why wasn't she…Why was he…Sent away?

Tails sighed. He didn't want Sonic and Amy to help. He knew they would help him write a good letter, but he wanted it to be from him. Finally, he wrote:

_' Dear Mom,_

_I don't know what to say. I guess I'm really surprised to hear from you. I don't really know you, but I wish I did._

_I have the chance to get to know you now, but I can't come visit. I'm in the middle of fixing my plane, and visiting is out of the question right now. But we can write back and forth, right?_

_Mom, I'd like to know about you. Your name is Rosemary, I know. I know what you looked like. But I don't know you._

_I sent you a picture of me. I sent a picture of Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and me too. I hope you like them._

_Talk to you soon, Mom._

_Love,_

_Miles Prower'_

Tails looked over the letter. 'It's…not that great.' He said to himself. 'but compared to some of my other letters…' He folded the letter and stuffed in an envelope. '…why don't I want to meet my mom?' he asked himself. 'Why am I sending her away?'

But he couldn't answer himself, so he put a stamp on the letter, wrote the address on the front, and put it with all the other letters for Amy to pick up when she went out in the morning.

All the letters that were going to be sent away.


	10. File 2 Entry 5 Sora To Tokeaumizuiro

**The Maria Files**

Authors Note: I have a kitty. Her name is Ribsy. And she's REALLY hyperactive. It's almost sad how alike we are. For example, I'm a really REALLY random child. For those who know me, you probably know that I burst out laughing to myself all the time or I say weird stuff like 'FLYING PAPAYA' or 'Your ears have been taken over by the monkey eating Space potatoes' or something stupid. That's me. My kitty is like that. She runs around the house at random times. That's called 'rips'. That's when your pets run around for no apparent reason other than to destroy the furniture. She kills her toy mice. Literally. Yesterday she tore the head off of one. I think she's violent. And she opens doors with the doorknob by running at the door and jumping and grabbing the doorknob, and as she falls the door will open. I lock my room at night. I don't want to be torn to shreds in my sleep. But other than that, Ribsy's a cool calm kitty. 14 of the time.

Yeah, that was COMPLETELY off subject, but just so you know. Or something.

_File 2- Dou Naru No? (What's Going On?)_

_Entry 5- Sora To Tokeaumizuiro (Blending Into the Blue Sky)

* * *

_

Tails picked up a wrench and looked at the badly damaged wing of the Tornado, which was smoking and sparking. When Tails had taken it out for a test drive yesterday, he hadn't been paying attention, and he smashed the wing when he was landing. Shaking his head at his indifference, Tails tapped his foot on the floor and switched to a screwdriver. He shook his head and went to switch tools again, when Amy walked into the garage.

"I saw the letter you sent to your mom." She said, and Tails looked up.

"You opened it?" He asked, surprised.

"No. I mean this morning when I went shopping, I put it in the mailbox." Amy said. "What'd you write? Did you tell her about me and Sonic and Knuckles?"

"Well, I sent her a picture." Tails said. "The one where You were hugging Sonic and he was pushing you away"

"The one where Knuckles' hat was on fire?" Amy asked, laughing.

Tails thought. "His hat WAS on fire in that one!" He said, incredulously. Then he laughed with Amy.

"Well," Amy finally said, smiling at Tails, "It was a nice thing to write back. Did you ask her about your dad?"

Tails shook his head. "No, I decided to leave that for some other time."

Amy nodded. "Good idea." She agreed. "So now what are you doing?"

"The wing." Tails pointed to the damaged wing. "It's in really bad shape. Take a look."

Amy walked over to Tails and looked at the wing. "Whoah! That's bad! What happened?"

"I crashed it?" Tails said. "By accident, I mean."

Amy sighed. "Well, I guess that means you won't come with us today, huh?"

"huh?" Tails asked, looking at his tool box.

"We were gonna go visit Knuckles. He's probably lonely. I would be, if I lived on a floating island all by myself."

"But we usually get up there by plane!" Tails said.

"Yeah, but you're working on Tornado X-2! What happened to Tornado 2?" Amy asked.

"It's over there, but"

"Can't we go in that?" Amy interrupted.

"Sure, but"

Amy smiled. "See, it's all settled. We'll go in Tornado 2."

"But it doesn't have a seat for you, Amy! You'd have to stand outside with Sonic, and that's really dangerous. What if I have to change formation?"

"Tails, don't worry about it! Sonic will protect me!" Amy said dreamily.

"Oh brother…" Tails groaned.

"I can hold on to Sonic while you fly. And he wouldn't let me fall!"

"If Sonic agrees, I'll do it." Tails said.

Amy smiled. "Yeah! I'll ask him now!"

Sonic disagreed, but when he heard the Tornado 2 was messed up, he agreed. "I've got two chaos emeralds." He told Tails, "And they'd be better off with Knuckles than with me."

So Tails stopped repairing the Tornado X-2 and got Tornado 2 ready for takeoff. When everything was ready, and Amy and Sonic were on the back, Tails looked up into the blue sky. There was another plane, a commerical one, going to land in Station Square airport only a few miles away. 'What if Mom is in there?' Tails asked himself. 'She wouldn't come visit, would she? I don't know. I don't know what she's like. I guess I will know. Someday.'

"Are we ready, Tails?" Amy asked.

"Yeah!" Tails said. "We're ready!" And with that, the three friends took off, blending into the blue sky.


	11. File 3 Entry 1 In Your Eyes

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: It took me forever to get this done, I was fixing my computer…anyway… I'm really proud of myself. Yeah. See, I beat Sonic DX a long time ago, but I didn't bother finishing the missions. Today, I finally completed the last mission. With Big. GOD, I hated Big's levels. I'm sorry, but I didn't like fishing for Froggy. Even though I like Big. For some strange reason, while everyone hates him, the only thing I actually hate about him are the levels he has in DX. I mean, he's just a cat that lives by fishing. Lots of people do that. Yeah, but his levels SUCK!

_File 3- Nari (Lost)_

_Entry 1- In Your Eyes_

* * *

Miserie stared at her hands, which were brown with dried blood, as Shadow fixed the pod so that they could leave the Space Colony.

"Hey." Shadow said suddenly. Miserie looked up. "What are you doing? You going to help or not?"

"…" Miserie stared at the pod. "Blood." She whispered.

"Eh?" Shadow said, not paying very much attention to her. He pointed the door of the pod. "It's broken. It might take a while to fix."

Miserie sighed sadly, then took a look at the door. The latch on the door was fractured in three different places, and as far in as she could see was dark and looked sort of dusty. "I can fix it." She said.

Shadow looked at her. "You think so?"

"Yeah." Miserie said. "It's really simple, actually." She didn't move though. She stood there and looked at her hands.

Shadow sighed and sat down. "You're still upset about that blood thing."

"…I cried blood." Miserie said. She kept staring at her hands.

Shadow was silent. Then he stood up and said, "Well, you want to find out why?"

Miserie looked up. "Eh?" She asked.

"Look. You've probably got some files on you in the main computer. We can go look."

"No." Miserie said. "We could get caught by a camera. And the people down there might have a rocket ready to get up here at a sign of life."

"Yes, but you can't sit around moping over spilt blood."

"I know." Miserie sighed. "Let's see that pod."


	12. File 3 Entry 2 Dead Or Alive

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I think I should stop writing author's notes because they have NOTHING TO DO with this story. You know? I'm so dumb sometimes. But I like them because they change everytime and I don't have to make a continuation. I don't think I could write a book. I'm so retarded, I'd probably forget to continue…you know?

_File 3- Nari (Lost)_

_Entry 2- Dead or Alive_

* * *

Miserie finished her repairs. "There." She said. she looked at Shadow. "It's done."

"Okay…" Shadow said, indifferently. He was staring at her, as if he was thinking.

Miserie looked at her reflection in the shiny exterior of the pod. "I need to wash my face." She said. Her left eye had blood crusted underneath it. She shuddered and looked at Shadow. "I'm gonna wash my face."

"There's no water on board. Anymore." Shadow pointed out. "Only what was in Maria's room and the Professor's Lab."

"…oh." Miserie looked at her reflection again. Her muzzle was brown with dried blood too. Her right eye wasn't bloody at all. "Do you think I should wash my face?"

"When we get down to Earth, we'll probably land in the Doctor's secret base." Shadow said. "There's water there. Let's go."

Miserie nodded, and pressed a button. The pod opened silently. Both Shadow and Miserie stepped inside, and the pod closed.

"Please re-enter the coordinates." A mechanical voice said.

"What are the coordinates?" Miserie asked Shadow. He shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess this wasn't directed anywhere. Well why don't you"

"Coordinates entered." The voice interrupted.

"eh? It's malfunctioning!" Miserie pointed to a screen that had come to life in front of her. A square pointer zoomed in on Earth, then zoomed in on a continent, then zoomed in on a city, then zoomed in on…an island? "Is that the base?"

"No, the base was in a pyramid." Shadow said. "Something's wrong here. Why is that island on land?"

"Unless it's not on land." Miserie said. "Unless it's floating over land!"

"How could it float? It can't be the chaos emeralds!"

"Why? Maybe it is the chaos emeralds?"

"No, it can't be. They would have already made a big mess of the planet by using Chaos Control, and sending half the population somewhere else."

"So the chaos emeralds must not be on the same wavelength. That means something stronger than them is forcing the island to fly. Something stronger with the same wavelength."

"The Master Emerald, then? It has to be holding up the island. That guy had it."

"What?"

"Nevermind." Shadow looked at the screen. "It's waiting for you to press go."

"but we don't know where we're going!"

"Yes we do. We're going to the Floating Island."

Miserie shook her head. "but we don't know anything about it!"

"you're thinking too much." Shadow said, staring at the screen. "If we go there, we'll know where we are. I doubt there are many other Floating Islands."

"…You're right. This way, we'll know where the pod is when we want to go back."

"Yeah. Press the screen"

Miserie held her hand over the screen, then paused. "You said 'that guy'. What guy?"

"I don't know." Shadow said, dully. "I can't remember."

She stared at him, but shook her head. "Alright." She pressed the screen. "Here we go."


	13. File 3 Entry 3 Freedom?

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: So my brother read the story and he asks 'Is Tails' mother REAL name Rosemary?' My response, well, DUH. So I decided to be nice and tell you what I know about Tails. Or at least a little bit. You should know that I am the biggest fan of Tails, first off. I got both Tails Adventure games, and I beat them. In DX, I beat Tails' version of the story first. I also read ALL of the Sonic comics and I have most of the movies and clips, sooo yesh. Anyway. If the Mobian year had 365 days, like we did, Tails' would be born on October 24th. Or 23rd on the leap year. He was born the day Eggman had chosen to conquer the world. Here's the trip I'm running on. Sonic's uncle, Sir Charles, made the machine that turned Tails' dad into a robot. But they never say anything about his mom. They say she was 'taken away from him'. By whom? That's how I based this story. You'll see how it turns out, won't you?

_File 3- Nari (Lost)_

_Entry 3- Freedom?_

* * *

Miserie stared out the window. "What if there are more floating islands than one?" She worried. "What if there are two or three? And"

"Will you stop asking questions? Who are you talking to anyway?"

"Well, I was asking you, but"

"You're asking me like I know this!"

"You seemed sure in Ark."

"I know I seemed sure in Ark. That was before you started talking about all this weird stuff like elemental properties and that stuff. I mean, jeez." Shadow shook his head. "If you were a toy for Maria, you must have been a real enhanced toy."

Miserie smiled. "A real enhanced toy." She repeated.

Shadow's eyes were closed. He had been leaning against the wall opposite the screen since they left Ark, a good hour ago. The Pod was moving quickly, but they were entering the earth's atmosphere now, and the pod was slowing down, though still moving considerably fast. Either way, Shadow hadn't said much, but Miserie was so worried they'd trespass on someone's land that she kept asking him questions.

Now, Miserie stared out the window. She had been wondering before about whether she was a toy or not. Did toys know about quantum physics? Did toys cry? Did toys…move?

Miserie sighed. "What other source of energy could possibly hold up something big?"

Shadow opened one eye. "I dunno." He said, finally. "Why don't you ask whoever's on the island?"

Miserie looked back at the screen. "Okay. We're about to land anyway."

Shadow got up. "What?"

"Look!" Miserie stared out the window. "I didn't know Earth was so pretty."

Shadow was silent. Miserie stared down at Earth. She recognized things like trees and water and grass and buildings as they got closer, but she didn't know what everything was or what it was called.

"So you've never been to Earth." Shadow said, suddenly.

"Nope. Never." Miserie said, looking over her shoulder. Shadow was watching the screen, both eyes open, intent. "You have, right Shadow?"

He nodded. "How close are we?"

"I'm not su" The pod lurched, and Miserie went flying backwards. Shadow caught her.

"Yeah, we're close." Shadow said. Miserie looked up at him. He wasn't looking at her, but looking at the screen on the pod. It was fizzling out, changing colors and distorting. Shadow looked…relieved.

"Are we going to land soon?" Miserie asked.

"Yeah. But…" Shadow's eyes narrowed. "This can't be the floating island."

"Why not?"

"where's the Master Emerald? Where's…?"

"No. It is the floating island." Miserie pointed. "Look at the coordinates. They're the same. And it's still elevated land, like it said."

"The Master Emerald is gone. It's not the floating island."

Miserie looked at the screen, but it was blank. "Well, if it isn't, what are we going to do?"

"…I don't know." Shadow said. "but"

A loud crash drowned out Shadow's voice. Miserie would have hit the ceiling, if Shadow hadn't had such a grip on her arm. Instead, her foot hit a button and her whole body lurched forwards, while Shadow firmly held his ground. Then the whole pod started shaking madly, and Miserie couldn't see anything because her vision was blurred.

With a final crash, the ship abruptly stopped. And blew up. Fire was everywhere. The door to leave the pod was jammed, Shadow and Miserie were trapped.

"Shadow!" Miserie cried over the roar of the flames. "I'm afraid of fire!"

"What!" He yelled. "Can't you get over your fear!"

"NOW!" Miserie asked incredulously.

"now is good!" Shadow returned, tugging on her arm. Miserie stumbled to her feet and got up against the wall like Shadow was. They were close to the door, but could they make it?

All of a sudden, an ax hit just centimeters away from Shadow's head. It left a hole of gaping light. Miserie inches towards Shadow. For some reason, the flames were invoking horrible memories… red…orange…memories. She shook her head. Memories? She had none…right?

"Hey!" someone called. "Anyone in there? We're coming in to get you out!"

Shadow tugged Miserie's arm again. Miserie looked at Shadow, who said, over the flames, "We can get out with that Ax hole if we pull together!"

"But the Metal's temperature must be high! It'll be too hot!"

"No, not yet." Shadow said. "It's only been a few seconds since the fire started."

"Are you mad?" Miserie asked. But Shadow had already ripped open the hole.

"Get out!" He pushed Miserie towards the hole. "Hurry up! You've been breathing in too much smoke."

Miserie looked at the hole. If she bent into a ball, she could get through. She rolled herself up and somersaulted through. The light outside was bright, brighter than inside ark. Miserie shaded her eyes, and moved away from the pod. Shadow must have gotten out too, because Miserie could see his silhouette. But who had been calling them? Who was offering help?

"Welcome to Freedom." Something said. And then…Miserie fainted.


	14. File 3 Entry 4 Catch me? Catch you

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: Thank you for your review Polodude! Do you like water polo or something?

You guys are reading along, AREN'T YOU?

_File 3- Nari (Lost)_

_Entry 4- Catch me? Catch you.

* * *

_

"Miserie?" Miserie shook her head and opened her eyes. She was in a small house. She was on a bed, and across from her bed was another bed. The room smelt strange like…what was that thing called…a flower? Shadow was standing over her. He looked worried. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I think." She looked at herself. Her arms were bandaged. She saw blood through the bandages. "What happened?… Shadow are you hurt!" She looked at Shadow. He smiled.

"Me, hurt? Don't lie to yourself." He said, shrugging. "You got hurt though. I think you just got bruised. But these people put Big Band-Aids on them, so…"

"Oh. So they're little. Maybe just teensy cuts." Miserie nodded. Then she smiled. "They were very nice to save us. Should we go thank them?"

Shadow sighed. "Do what you want. As long as they don't tell anyone where we are, it's all good."

"Really!" Miserie cried. "Alright!" She hopped out of the bed she was lying in. "Are you coming, Shadow?"

"Nah." Shadow said. He closed his eyes. "I'll just stay here. They'll be happier to see you."

"Eh? Oh come on, Shadow. They'll love you, just like I do!" Miserie said.

"Sure they will." Shadow said, nonchalantly.

Miserie shook her head. "Alright. I'll go out there." She said. She walked towards the door. It was like Maria's. It had a doorknob.

Miserie opened the door and left the house. She was near the edge of the island. There was water below her. So this was a floating island. Miserie was so absorbed by this that she didn't hear someone walk up behind her.

"Neat, huh?" said a feminine voice.

Miserie jumped and turned around. It was… a fox. With two tails. Just like her. "Uhm, hello?" She asked, looking at the fox. She was only a little older than Miserie was. In fact, she looked more like a guy than a girl. She had a purple Mohawk and blue eyes, but orange fur. Her ears were pierced, three in the left, two in the right.

"Yo." The girl said. "My name's Rhonda. You can call me Jo. You into rock? You look cool. You'll have to change those clothes though."

Miserie smiled. "I'm sorry." She said, shaking her head, "I'm not into rock…yet. And My name is Miserie."

"Miserie, huh? That's a cool name." Rhonda said. "My name sucks. 'Rhonda'. What kind of rocker has the name Rhonda?"

Miserie laughed. "You're funny, Rhonda." She said.

"Yeah?" Rhonda looked proud of herself. "Well, you know us foxes, right?"

Miserie shook her head. "I've never seen anyone who looks like me. Just Shadow." Just Shadow and Maria and the Professor.

"You haven't? Oh yeah. You came in the spaceship. So you must have been up there on Space Colony Ark!"

"Yes, that's where I was." Miserie replied.

Suddenly, Rhonda got excited. "Have you seen him! Have you seen Miles?"

Miserie took a step back. "Miles?" She asked.

"You know! He's a fox too! Looks just like us! He was up there too! He's our hero!" Rhonda said. Her blue eyes were wide, and she sounded so happy to hear from Space Colony Ark.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Miserie said, shaking her head. "I just woke up. I wouldn't know. I'm so sorry."

"Just woke up? You have amnesia? Don't worry, we've got medics for that. Come on, lemme show you." Rhonda took Miserie's arm, but Miserie shook her head.

"I'm…I might not be…what you think I am." Miserie said, slowly. She looked up into the sky. "I don't know where I'm from. I don't know who I am." She looked at Rhonda. "It's not because of…amnesia. It's something else."

Rhonda widened her eyes again. "Deep." She said. Then she paused. "Well, you should come see the Ancient Ones. And you should see Miles pictures! I love Miles." Rhonda said. "He's the only one of us- well, other than you- who didn't grow up with us. And there's so much you need to know! I'm glad the Ancient ones have already passed the law, and you're staying."

"Staying?" Miserie asked. "What are you talking about? Did Shadow already say I was staying? We're staying?"

"Shadow? Oh you mean that hedgehog. No, he has to leave. We can't have him here. The Hero will be coming soon. The hero is Miles, you know. The Ancient ones said so. They've got mystical powers and such." Rhonda laughed. "I can just play the guitar. But they can tell fortunes!"

"No!" Miserie said. "I can't leave Shadow! He…" Rhonda grabbed Miserie's arm.

"Hurry! Rosemary is Tails' mother! She has all his pictures! She's sent him a letter too!" Rhonda smiled. "He's like a rock star to me!"

Miserie widened her eyes as Rhonda pulled her along. It was so slow. Miserie sighed. "Which way?" She asked.

"What?" Rhonda asked.

"Which way to Rosemary's house?"

"That way!" Rhonda pointed to her left.

Miserie took Rhonda's hand. "We're only gonna see his pictures and then I'm going home. I'm going with Shadow, you got that?" Miserie said, and with that, she dashed off to the left. As she ran, Misere looked at the people she past. Foxes. All of them were foxes! How could there be so many of…herself? And they were all so different, all so…

"STOP!" Rhonda said, loudly.

Miserie skidded and stopped in front of a flower patch. A quaint cottage was behind the flowers. "Is this it?" she asked.

"Yeah! Hey, you're not even breathing hard. That was a pretty long run you know, and you did it pretty fast. While lugging me. You've gotta be like, super strong."

Miserie shook her head. "Nope, not super strong."

"Come on." Rhonda said, shaking her head. "Rosemary lives here."

Miserie followed Rhonda inside. It was a big cottage, probably having five rooms. The room they were in was yellow and only had a table, a door leading to a closet, a white staircase, and two hallways.

"Mrs. Prower? It's Rhonda!" Rhonda called.

"In here." Said a quiet voice. Miserie followed Rhonda to another room. This room was big, but it was full of…girls?

An old graying fox was sitting in a rocking chair, with a newspaper framed above her fireplace, behind her, looking like the newspaper was over her head. A boy fox was in a plane in the picture on the newspaper. Plenty of girls were sitting on the floor, staring up and the picture and the old fox.

Rhonda sat down, but Miserie saw something in the picture from a far. Slowly, she walked over to the old fox.

"Hello, dear." The old fox said. Whispers around the room. Miserie ignored them.

"Hello, Mrs. Prower." She said. "My name is Miserie. I'm not from here. I'm from Space colony Ark."

The whole room burst into conversation, gasps, and even glares. Who was the girl fox who had been in the space colony, and why was she here? All questions Miserie ignored.

"Miserie?" Rosemary said. "Such a strange name. Who are your parents?"

Suddenly the room was quiet. Miserie swallowed.

"I have no parents. I don't know them. I've lived with Shadow since…well. Shadow must know your son. I know he's been on Earth before. I'm sure he met your son. Can I…can I look at the picture on the newspaper? There is something there…I want to make sure."

"Please go on." Rosemary said, nodding. "You must know something."

Miserie reach up and took the picture down. She stared. The hedgehog…the hedgehog in the picture…if it hadn't been for his spikes…he would be… "Shadow…" Miserie breathed. She turned the paper over and scanned the back. The newspaper on the back was yellowing, like the picture. She found Shadow's name. "This…Shadow knows this." Miserie said, quietly. "Project Shadow. Just like…Project…Miserie."

"What did you say, dear?" Rosemary asked.

"I said, Shadow knows all about this, I think. I'm not sure if he remembers. I'll get him. I'll get Shadow and"

"NO!" Rosemary said.

"NO!" the room of girls chorused.

"Not the evil hedgehog. He will die, just like the other one! That is Miles' duty!" Rosemary said, strongly.

"Not the evil hedgehog! No!" The room chorused.

"You must realize that thing's evil!" Rosemary said.

"Shadow? Evil?" Miserie said, just as strongly. "Shadow isn't evil! He's my friend! He's not mean! There's nothing wrong about him! I can't do this! I'm leaving!" Miserie turned around, but Rosemary took her hand.

"No, please stay." Rosemary said. "Never mind the hedgehog."

"He has a name!" Miserie protested. She shook Rosemary's hand off. "And I would like to leave. Good bye, Mrs. Prower." With that, Miserie turned and left the room.

"The Picture!" the room behind her gasped.

Miserie looked down at her hands as she was leaving. The picture? Yes, she hadn't put it down. She put it on the table, and shook her head. Worshipping a picture. Hero indeed. Miserie knew she must leave.

She thought as she raced back to the house she had awoken in, 'They will try to keep me here. Can they catch me? I wonder…Shadow, will you let them keep me?…Evil?…Shadow, are you…'


	15. File 3 Entry 5 Dream Differed

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: So. I was fixing my computer for a while and didn't get much writing in. But I updated on the 5th of Feb, so I'm good, right? Nari, nari, nari…

Anyway, I was playing Super Smash Brothers by myself yesterday. You know what I can't stand? I played V.S Melee with three computers as the same character I was…I think I'm color blind. I couln't remember whether I was the Black or the White Link! So I played SA2 Battle instead.

_File 3- Nari (Lost)_

_Entry 5- Dream Differed

* * *

_

"Shadow…" Miserie walked into the house. There were big foxes talking to Shadow sternly. They were wearing Armor, holding lances. As she walked in, they sent her a look of comtempt.

"The young fox will stay. You, hedgehog, will leave." One of the Guards said, walking over to Miserie.

Shadow sighed. He was lying on a bed, eyes closed, totally disregarding the Guards. "Well, you can't take her anywhere, so enjoy her short visit on the island." Shadow said nonchalantly.

"Eh…?" Miserie said, as the Guards took hold of her under her arms. "Hey! Let go!"

"We will have her destiny told by the ancient ones. Then you will leave and she will stay." The Guard said.

Shadow swung his legs off the bed and sat up. He opened his eyes and glared at the Guard, who backed up. Then he got up and walked over to Miserie. The Guards holding her crossed their lances, barring her from Shadow.

"Shadow?" Miserie asked, swinging her legs in frustration.

Shadow knocked the lances back and took Miserie's hand. He pulled her out of their grips and glared at them too. As they shrunk away from him, he said, "Bunch of losers…Let's get going, Miserie."

"Uhm…" Miserie turned and smiled at the Guards. "Thank you for letting us stay here." They scowled at her, and she dropped her smile. She looked at Shadow, who was facing the Guard behind them.

"I don't think they'll be letting us go easy." Shadow said.

"Then what are we going to do?" Miserie whimpered.

"We're gonna fight, that's what we'll do." Shadow growled.

Miserie widened her eyes. "But I've never fought before!"

"Get used to it. You'll be doing it a lot." Shadow said to her sternly.

Miserie gulped. Hopefully, this horrible dream would die…


	16. File 4 Entry 1 For Now

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: Woo, I had chocolate! I love chocolate.

RyukoVulpix, I wub you! Two comments. You're on the 'wub-you-for-life' list. Somebody say cheeseburger! (cheeseburger!)

I had to cut off the ShadowMiserie/Guards fight... but there will be fights in the future, I just was too lazy to do this one. And yes, you will read them.

_File 4- Meihaku, no, Meiwaku (Obvious, no, Annoying)_

_Entry 1- For Now

* * *

_

Amy shaded her eyes. "What a nice day!" She cheered. She streched and said, "Doncha think so Sonic?"

He replied from behind her, where he had to keep a hold of her, "Yeah, it's nice out."

Tails called back to them, "I'm going to get a little closer to the ocean, okay?"

"Okay!" Amy called back, joyously. "I've always wanted to fly out here!" she told Sonic. "It's so free!"

Sonic didn't reply. Amy looked back at him. He was looking dreamily into the clouds.

Amy sighed. Sonic never paid her any attention. Did he even like her? Amy laughed at that thought. He loved her, that's what. He was just shy.

The air tasted salty and fresh. Amy breathed in and sighed again. The water was so relaxing.

Her mind shifted to Tails. Poor Tails…his mother finally wrote to him. What did he write in his letter, she wondered. He seemed so confused. He was so used to living with Sonic and Amy, perhaps he thought of them as his family now. But…His mother wasn't an obstacle he could circumvent.

"Sonic…" Amy asked.

He answered, "what?"

"Do you think Tails' mother will be nice to him? Do you think she'll learn all the things about Tails that she should know? I wonder what she looks like now? Sonic, will she understand he's hurt because she wasn't there for so long?"

Sonic was silent. When Amy turned to look at him, he answered, "I'm sure she'll understand."

"Understand what? Oh, poor Tails." Amy said sadly.

Sonic said, "All we can do is try to help."

"But what if that isn't enough?"

"Hey Guys, We've reach Angel Island!" Tails cried happily.

"It'll be enough…for now." Sonic said.

Amy sighed. 'Oh, Tails….'


	17. File 4 Entry 2 Alliance: Formed!

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: RyukoVulpix, You're awesome, and I wub you D. Thanks for your comment! See, the more comments you give, the more times say your name. Oh, and Cheeseburger. Cheeseburger, RyukoVupix!

Now everyone comment, okay!

_File 4- Meihaku, no, Meiwaku (Obvious, no, Annoying)_

_Entry 1- Alliance: Formed!

* * *

_

As Tails steered the plane onto Angel Island, Amy felt seasick. She gripped Sonic's arm and he tightened his arm around her.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "Maybe you shouldn't be out here. Y'know?"

"I'm okay. I'm okay. I think I'm okay. I hope I'm okay. I can't tell if I'm okay." Amy babbled.

Sonic rolled his eyes and said, "We shouldn't have taken this plane…"

"I can't feel my legs, so they must be okay," Amy continued. She couldn't think right and she couldn't see straight. It was free out on the back of the Tornado 2, but she didn't like the bumpy ride on the back. At least on the inside she felt a little safer. Out here… Amy closed her eyes and tried not to think about landing, which proved to be a most difficult task.

"We've landed." Amy heard Tails say over the engine. The plane dulled from a roar into a hum. Then, there was silence.

"Oooh…" Amy groaned, dizzy.

"Amy, are you okay?" she heard Tails ask.

"Nuh-uh…" She cried. Someone took her hands and helped her down. When she opened her eyes, Tails was holding her hands and Sonic was climbing off the plane.

"I hope you feel better, Amy." Tails said, widening his blue eyes. "Otherwise we might not be able to get you home…"

"I'll be fine." Amy responded, smiling at her friend. He smiled back.

"I think I hear Knuckles." Sonic said. He held up a pink emerald. "I've got the green one too. I think Knuckles will watch these for me while I collect the next five."

Amy glanced at the pink emerald. "That reminds me!" She said, rummaging in her pocket. She had a gift for Knuckles for saving Sonic (and her, but she didn't want him to know) on ARK. She produced a red bracelet.

"Are you sure Knuckles will wear that?" Sonic asked.

"don't be strange, Sonic, of course he will! It's a power bracelet. One of my new inventions for the fashion world!" Amy pointed to a pink bracelet on her arm. "A Cute bracelet, enhances cuteness. Don't you think I'm exceptionally cute today, Sonic?"

"Sure." Sonic said, absentmindedly.

Amy giggled. "See! They work!" She said. "I've got one for you and Tails too!" She said, pulled two more out of her pockets. "This one's a speed bracelet," She said, handing it to Sonic. "You'll have much faster movement!"

"Oh?" Sonic said. "I don't think I'll need it then."

"What do you mean! You don't want my bracelet! AH KEEL YOU!" Amy said, producing her Piko Piko hammer.

"Oh no!" Sonic yelped, and Amy slammed her hammer onto…nothing. He was gone, streaking hiding behind the plane.

"You won't hide from ME, Sonic!" Amy cried, chasing him.

As Amy proceeded to bash Sonic, she heard Tails say, "Hey Knuckles!"

Sonic climbed over the plane and stood, breathing hard, leaning on the ship. "Jeez…" He panted.

Amy cimlbed over the plane after Sonic. She hugged Sonic and grinned "Hi Knuckles!" She said in her usual cheery manner.

"Uhm…" Knuckles said, with a confused grin. Then he looked serious. "Hey, there's something funny going on…"

"Something funny?" Sonic Asked. He untangled himself from Amy.

Amy listened to Knuckles as the group walked to the ruins.

"You mean someone other than us is dropping off emeralds!" Tails cried.

"Yeah." Knuckles said. "I've got two already. These two you've given me brings the total to four! And so there are three left. But…I don't know how I got them, or from who!"

"Usually I'd say that's good," Sonic said. "But I'm not sure what to say about this…"

"Why would anyone want to give us the Emeralds? Sonic turns sexy- I mean super when he has all of them!" Amy said, covering her stutter with a blush.

Knuckles shrugged. They were at the shrine, and he led them up the stair. "I mean, they're the most powerful things on this planet…now. So…"

"What if it's getting in someone's way?" Tails suddenly said.

"What?" Sonic asked.

"It makes sense!" Tails continued, stopping. The group of four paused on the steps, three of them with their eyes on one. "Don't you get it? What if someone built something high tech, high powered, with wavelengths that didn't match the Emeralds? Then they'd have to wait until the two wavelengths were alike, or they could simply get rid of one wavelength!"

"So they got rid of the Emeralds!" Amy gasped. "It does make sense!"

"But how did they know who to give it to? How did they know the Island was here?" Knuckles asked.

"I dunno." Sonic said. "But it's up to us to find out!"

"Alright!" Knuckles agreed, high-fiving Sonic.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Tails said, grinning.

"Oh, no. You aren't leaving me out of this at all!" Amy said. The three guys stared at her. "You're gonna need my cuteness and smartness and everything else! So I'm in!"

The guys looked at each other. "D'ya have to come along?" Sonic asked

"AH KEEL OO!"

"I don't see anything wrong with it…" Tails said, as he watched Sonic dash down the stairs with Amy chasing him.

"but then, I think Sonic likes being beaten up by Amy." Knuckles said, as Amy screamed:

"SOOOOOONIC!"


	18. File 4 Entry 3 Love Me?

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: Why a healthy obsession with chicken? Why couldn't Frank Perdue be obsessed with cows!

_File 4- Meihaku, no, Meiwaku (Obvious, no, Annoying)_

_Entry 3- Love…Me?

* * *

_

"Amy, You have to stay here!" Sonic complained, pulling his arm out of her vicegrip.

"But I don't wanna stay here! I'm all by myself!" She pouted. "No one can protect me…"

"No one really knows about Angel Island." Knuckles said. "You'll be safe."

"I thought you were on MY side!" Amy grimaced.

"We are," Tails said. "But we want you to be safe. What if you're not there when we really need you?"

Amy thought about that. She pictured herself finally saving Sonic, and they would fall in love and get married and have twins and… "Okay. I'll do it." She said.

Sonic smiled. "That's it, we're outta here."

"Wait Sonic!" Amy cried, grabbing his arm. Knuckles rolled his eyes and climbed onto the plane. Tails shrugged and waved goodbye to Amy. Sonic sighed.

"What?" He asked.

"Don't you want to give me a goodbye kiss?" she asked, slyly.

Sonic sighed again. "No…"

"I'll follow you, and don't think I won't!" Amy threatened.

Sonic smiled, but he didn't say anything.

"Please!" Amy whispered.

Sonic sighed. "Later." He grinned. Then he pulled his arm out of hers. "See ya Amy!"

"Sonic, oooh, you…!" Amy cried, angrily. She started to follow him, but he whirled around and smirked.

"Just stay, Amy." He said, staring into her eyes. "We'll be back."

Amy blushed. "Okay." She said softly. "I'll stay."

He grinned. "That's what I'm saying," he said, eagerly. He turned around and jumped on the plane.

Amy watched them leave. Then she turned and went back to the ruins.

'He likes me, he does! I never doubted it for a second!' Amy grinned to herself. She reach the ruins and climbed the stairs. 'I'm sure he's dreamed of marrying me too! Oh, I hope he wants twins too!'

There was a crash from the ruins. Amy's head jerked up. "Who's' there?" she yelped, strongly. "Show yourselves!" She swung her hammer in front of her, blowing up hearts and leaves. "come on out!"

And then…Everything went black.


	19. File 4 Entry 4 You Again!

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: My internet has been shut down…but on certain days it comes back. Does my cpu have issues or what?…or did I program it that way!

_File 4- Meihaku, no, Meiwaku (Obvious, no, Annoying)_

_Entry 4- You Again!

* * *

_

"She okay?" Amy heard faintly. It was a familiar voice, but she couldn't place it. Who was it?

"I think so. I think she's fine." A different voice replied. Amy couldn't recognize this voice. "We're lucky that guard brought her to that house…A slaughter house." The voice said this last part sadly.

"Don't tell her that." The first voice said. It started to fade away as Amy felt drowsily sleepy. "She doesn't need to…"

After a couple hours, Amy snapped awake under a tree, but not on Angel Island. IT was dark outside. There was no sign of anyone. Who were her two saviors? Was there really a slaughter house?

Amy looked around. There was a beaten path leading somewhere. Maybe there wasa city somewhere close? Amy got up. Her head throbbed red, in pain. She winced and grimaced as she walked. When she reach a clearing, she didn't see a city. Forest as far as the eye could see. Amy gasped. The clearing was actually a cliff, over a big pool of shining water. She was all alone now…Would Sonic come rescue her and then profess his love to her? That would be a perfect ending to this nightmare. She could picture Sonic going silently crazy without her, and finally running away to find her, and she, the most beautiful hedgehog in the world, would of course, accept him in opened arms and…

"Hey, you're awake!" Amy whirled around, surprised at the voice. There was a fox behind her. She had faded denim overalls on over her dark fur. Amy saw a gray scar over her left eye, and immediately she felt sorry for the fox, who was smiling happily. But then, she saw the most amazing feature.

"T-t…" Amy stuttered, her eyes widening.

The fox looked confused. "T?" She asked, looking as if she had been slapped.

"Two…Tails? How do you…?" Amy managed, looking into the fox's bottle green eyes.

"Oh, my tails." She said nonchalently. "I was born with them. At least, I think I was. I don't know. But I'm sure Shadow does."

"Shadow? Shadow the hedgehog?" Amy asked, blinking.

"hey, that's funny, Shadow couldn't recognize you, but you know him. Funny…" The little fox said, widening her eyes. "But yeah, Shadow the hedgehog. My name is Miserie. What's yours?"

"I'm Amy. Amy Rose." Amy said, shakily. "Shadow isn't trying to destroy the world again, is he?"

"No, no. Wait. What do you mean 'again'?" Miserie asked, wiggling one of her ears. "Is there something I don't know?"

"No. No." Amy said, slowly. She shook her head. "My head, it stings. What happened?"

"You got hit by something. You're lucky we found you," Miserie said.

"Thank you." Amy said.

"No prob!" Miserie grinned.

"Mis, let's go." Amy heard that voice…Shadow.

"Okay, Shadow!" Miserie said, then she took Amy's hand. "I know you thought Shadow was bad, but He's not, I swear. He wouldn't hurt anybody. I promise, okay?"

"…Okay." Amy said. But in her head, there was only one thought. 'You….again.'


	20. File 4 Entry 5 Gomen, Gomen, Tomodachi

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I have brain damage! Cheer!… And this chapter…Reader discretion advised

_File 4- Meihaku, no, Meiwaku (Obvious, no, Annoying)_

_Entry 5- Gomen, Gomen, Tomodachi, Gomen (Sorry, Sorry, Friend, Sorry)

* * *

_

Miserie promised Amy she wouldn't let Shadow out of her sight to enslave the world, which Amy thought was the cutest most caring thing she had ever heard. They became really good friends quickly.

As they walked through the forest, Shadow plodding ahead of Miserie and Amy, Shadow informed Amy of Miserie's 'birth'.

"…So you set her free accidentally?" Amy asked, as Miserie looked from Shadow to Amy.

"Yeah. She can't be much older than…" Shadow started to speak, but he didn't finish.

"Tails. She can't be much older than Tails." Amy said. "I mean, you weren't awake as long as Tails."

"Tails?" Miserie asked. "What a strange name."

"His real name is….uhm…oh, I can't remember….I feel so bad. I've been calling him Tails since I met him….I don't know if he answers to his real name anymore." Amy said.

"Oh. I guess that would be normal." Miserie said, uninterestedly. "Maybe when I meet him, I'll ask what his real name is."

"I hear something…" Shadow said, in his dark low tone. Miserie clutched Amy's hand.

"No more fighting!" Miserie said. "Uh-uh, no way."

Shadow didn't respond. Amy twitched her ear, and she heard a rustling noise from nearby.

"It's getting closer!" Both Shadow and Amy said in unison. Shadow glared at Amy before turning towards the bushes.

Then there was a noise of pressured air being let loose. Shadow moved out of the way, exposing Amy to whatever was there. She couldn't move. She couldn't think.

"Amy, Move!" Shadow said, suddenly, impatiently.

Miserie pushed her out of the way, and all Amy could hear was a bloodcurdling scream as she fell to the hard cold dirt ground.

Amy got up as quick as she could. She was shaking all over, like a leaf on a windy day. Miserie was cupping her face, on her knees on the ground. Shadow was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no, Miserie! What's wrong!" Amy gasped. "I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! All my Fault!"

Miserie was sobbing, but she answered, "Nuh…no…not….your fault…"

"Don't lie, Miserie!" Amy said, starting to cry herself. "You've been so nice and I've hurt you and it's all my fault!"

Miserie didn't reply. Shadow came crashing out of nearby bushes, dragging a heavily armoured two tailed fox guard by his neck.

"Miserie!" He said, with such emotion in his voice Amy looked around startled, to see who said her friend's name with such emotion. Shadow had never been one for emotion… but he treated this little fox so gently. Amy watched as he coaxed her to move her hands from her face.

"Oh…my…god…" Amy covered her mouth. "That's…horrible. It's disgusting!"

"It's your fault." Shadow said dully. "If you had just moved…she wouldn't have this…"

"I can't see, Shadow…It's so dark…Red…Like blood…" Miserie hiccuped.

"Shh." Shadow said to her. "Look, Amy, we have to get that poison dart out of her eye." Her eye was trickling a stream of red.

Amy shook her head. "I can't…I can't…"

"You were the one who did this to her! She was trying to protect you! You're perfectly capable of moving on your own!"

"I know that!" Amy snapped at him. "She could have let it hit me!"

"But she didn't!" Shadow replied coldly. "And I suggest you get the dart out of her eye."

"But I could pull out her eye in the process!" Amy shook her head.

"It has to come out." Shadow said firmly. "Or her eye will swell." He listened to her breath. "She's sleeping. Now." He tilted her head back and looked expectantly at Amy. "Get it out of there."

Amy gulped and reach for the dart… _Please forgive me, Miserie…I'm so sorry…_


	21. File 5 Entry 1 Still More Fighting

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I'm so mad at myself for making that happen so fast, but Miserie's eye is gorged out like that, so I wanted to get it over with. Sowwies. Enjoy this chapter though! And I'm sowwies again, I took time off towrite Sweetly Scented, but you can go check it out, it's awesome!

_File 5- Maria-Ver1dotoh_

_Entry 1- Still More Fighting_

* * *

Miserie pulled her patch over her hollow eye and sighed. She watched Shadow and Amy move around, not talking to each other. They were both thinking so hard, they forgot she was around. Miserie absolutely hated being the youngest.

She looked around in the forest. They had to be close to the end now. They'd been walking for at least three days, in silence. Miserie tried to keep herself amused by naming the trees on her way, but she didn't really care about the trees, and besides that she didn't know the names to begin with. She looked from Amy to Shadow. Before, they were getting along so well. At least, better than now…

Amy finally said, "I need a break." She said it while still walking, as if she really didn't need one. Shadow didn't answer. He was walking slowly so that Miserie, who was lagging behind, could follow. Miserie couldn't see his face, but she was sure he was thinking hard.

When Shadow didn't reply after a while, Miserie decided she wanted to stop. "uhm, me too!" Miserie said, and she crumpled to her knees. "I'm tired."

Shadow turned around. "fine. But a short one." He said. Miserie grinned. He only stared at her then turned around.

But she quickly lost her grin. Amy sat down, but she wouldn't face Shadow. And Shadow wouldn't face Amy. Miserie sat between the two, lost. She wanted to talk with Shadow, but she also wanted to talk to Amy. She didn't want to hurt their feelings, but it was so much easier when they talked.

'This is all my fault.' She whined to herself. 'Why did I have to save Amy anyway? Well…she is my friend but…why didn't I do it sooner? Man…' she sighed again. 'This is worse than punishment. Although I've never been punished. This has to be worse.'

She looked at Shadow. 'He's sometimes mean. I have to be careful. He isn't mean to me, but he is to Amy.' Now Miserie looked over at Amy. 'And Amy can be stubborn and sometimes she can be rude. Not to be mean of course. Shadow doesn't like it when people accuse him or if they won't give up.' She looked at her hands. 'The perfect pair to travel with.' She said to herself.

"Are you ready, Miserie?" Amy said, without turning. Miserie looked up.

"No. I'm going to wait here…" Miserie said, quietly. "I'm going to wait until you stop fighting…"

"We aren't fighting." Shadow said hollowly.

"Are so. You won't even look at each other. You won't even talk. The only person either of you are talking to is me…" Miserie whispered, softly. "You guys are making me feel horrible…"

Amy whirled around. Her green eyes were filled with tears. "Don't!" she said, hysterically. "Don't feel bad, it's all my fault!"

"How could it be your fault?" Miserie asked, baffled. "You were scared, weren't you? That's why you didn't move, wasn't it? If I had just realized that sooner, I'd have"

"No, no, no!" Amy interrupted. "If I had just moved like Shadow said, you would still have an eye!"

"But I do have an eye." Miserie pointed at her right eye. She felt tears well up in her eyes. "you don't think it's you're fault, do you?"

"It's all my fault and I'm sorry!" Amy said, flatly. Then she turned around again. "all…my fault…"

"Hmph." Shadow muttered.

"Shadow, you're not going to let her believe it's her fault, are you?" Miserie asked. Shadow didn't reply. "Are you, shadow?"

He shook his head. "It is her fault." He said. "If she had moved, you'd still have two eyes."

"No it isn't!" Miserie insisted. She stood up and stamped her foot. "I can't believe you're thinking it's her fault! That's not fair! What if she was scared? What if she got shot? What if she lost an eye? It's no one's fault!"

Shadow looked at Miserie, his red eyes showing no emotion. "Oh?"

Miserie balled her fists. "And if you're going to shame Amy into believeing it's her fault, then I don't like you anymore, Shadow!"

Shadow turned away. "Go ahead."

"Shadow!" Miserie whimpered, forgetting that she hated him. "You're being so stubborn!" She pointed at Amy. "You're being just like Amy! You two are so alike it's not funny!"

Amy got up, still not facing Shadow or Miserie. "I'm not like that insensitive, melodramatic, horrible jerk!" She argued.

"And I'm nothing like that stuck up, whiny little brat." Shadow said.

"Are so! Are so!" Miserie cried. "Look at you! You're both too self-absorbed to see the other one is hurting too!"

"What?" Amy said. "Shadow isn't hurting; he just hurts others!"

"No!" Miserie said. "I know you're hurting Amy, because you think my eye coming out is your fault. But Shadow, you're hurting because you hurt Amy, aren't you?"

"Since when did you decide you knew me so well?" Shadow asked.

Miserie grabbed Shadow's arm. "Stop being stupid and apologize, Shadow!" She whined, swinging on his arm. "Please?"

He shook his head. "No."

Miserie looked at Amy. "Amy, what about you?"

"Uh-uh." Amy said.

Miserie stamped her foot again. "But…But…" She said,and her lip trembled. Shadow looked at her, and he sighed.

"What's wrong, Miserie?" He said, looking upset.

Miserie broke into tears. "I'm sorry, okay?" She said. Her voice cracked, tinged with sadness. "It's my fault, okay? Why won't you just apologize? I don't understand…I don't like being punished… Why can't you just stop?"

"Punished?" Amy turned around suddenly and faced Shadow. Miserie looked, bewildered, at Amy. "Shadow…" Amy said quietly.

Shadow was looking at Miserie, but he turned to face Amy when she spoke. Miserie sat on the ground like a dog on its haunches. Shadow didn't say a word. He waited for Amy to continue.

Amy went into a rage. "I can't stand you, Shadow!" She screamed. "You're so stupid confident! Just like Sonic! Always stepping all over my feelings!" She balled her fists and continued. "But Miserie told me you were different and look what you did! You're the same! You're the same selfish hedgehog who tried to take over the world!"

"Selfish?" Shadow said, looking amused. Miserie rubbed her eyes and looked at Amy.

"Selfish, that's right!" Amy screamed, but then, she said quietly, "But you realized you were wrong and you helped Sonic. I took the wrong impression." She paused. "I was wrong." Now she glared up at Shadow. "but right now, YOU'RE wrong!" She pointed at him. "You're wrong! You told me it was my fault! But…even if it was…why doesn't Miserie feel the same way? If it was really my fault, wouldn't Miserie hate me more than you do?"

"Who said I hated you?" Shadow asked. He looked at Miserie. "I'm watching out for Miserie. She's the only one like me." He looked at Amy. "But you, you tried to kill her, and I think it's your fault."

"She's not the only one like you!" Amy said, suddenly. She shook her head. "She's not even like you! She's…" Amy looked at Miserie. "Miserie's so nice. When I first met her, she didn't scare me the way you did. She didn't hurt my friends, like you did. She was so nice. But you weren't. You stole, you lied, you cheated, and you nearly killed Sonic. And I thought I could never forgive you for that!"

"Wait! Stop!" Miserie said, and both hedgehogs looked at her. "…Shadow…Amy…" she said softly. "I just want us all to be friends again. I didn't want all this fighting. This isn't anyone's fault but mine."

Shadow and Amy looked at each other, then back at Miserie.

"you know what?" Amy said suddenly.

"It's no one's fault. Let's just get going." Shadow said. He turned around and started walking away. "And you two better keep up."

Miserie looked at Amy, who shook her head. "Whatever Shadow."

Miserie smiled a little. 'At least they're talking again…' she thought, and she hurried after Amy, disappearing into the trees.


	22. File 5 Entry 2 Raw Power

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm just so awesome. Like I keep saying, go read Sweetly Scented, and I'm reading one (or more) of your stories (all of ya'll!) while writing! MWAHAHAHA!

_File 5 Maria;ver1:dot:oh_

_Entry 2- Raw Power

* * *

_

Miserie held Amy's hand, stumbling through the mud. They had been walking all night into morning. Shadow and Amy didn't talk to each other, but they alternated helping Miserie out. Miserie was worried about both of them, because they were her only friends…They had already been attacked six times. Miserie's feet hurt, but she couldn't ask for a break, what with Shadow's angry pace now. He had gotten hurt, but he didn't want any help. Amy too, had been injured,but hers was covered up by a torn off piece of her dress.

"Amy?" Miserie whispered.

Amy turned to look at Miserie. "Something wrong, Miserie?" She asked, loudly. Miserie shushed her before Shadow turned around.

"What happened?" He asked harshly.

"No…nothing!" Miserie stuttered. Shadow turned around again and continued walking. "Amy!" Miserie whispered again. "We have to help Shadow!"

"With WHAT?" Amy whispered back.

"His leg!" Miserie pointed at his limping leg. He had gotten shot by a recent attack.

"We can't do anything about that!" Amy shook her head. "I can't splint it. I can't do anything."

"But…But…!" Miserie worriedly stared at Shadow's leg. "What if in the next attack, his leg gets shot off? Amy, we have to do SOME"

"Shh!" Shadow hissed, suddenly right next to them. He pulled Amy in front of Miserie, forming a barrier.

"What's going on?" Asked Miserie. Amy said nothing.

"Those bushes." Shadow said, narrowing his eyes. "They're moving." He didn't move. Amy looked scared. Miserie could feel her palms getting sweaty. She felt bad, as if she should tell Amy something. When she opened her mouth, a sensation ran through her body, like a rush of adrenaline. Suddenly, she knew what was back there, something weak and frail. It couldn't hurt them…

"You're scared…" Miserie said, not sure of what else to do. "You're scared, Amy…so are you, Shadow…"

They looked at her. Amy's green eyes widened and Shadow's eyes narrowed even more. "Why?" Amy asked. "You're not?"

Miserie felt a rush of calm come over her. Surprised, she looked them both in the eyes. "No. I'm not scared."

Shadow looked at her strangely. "And why not?"

"Because…Because…" Miserie struggled to find the right words. "Because you said not to be afriad anymore, remember? In the ship. You said to get over my fear."

"You were afraid of fire." He said bluntly.

"But I was afraid of what's behind the bushes." She said. "I know what it is. I know what's back there."

Amy gasped. "How?" She asked.

"…I don't know. But What's back there isn't gonna attack us. It's too weak." She said. "It's so weak. It's afraid too."

Shadow shook his head. "And what if you're wrong?" He asked.

Miserie shook her head. "I'm not wrong. I'll prove it to you." She let go of Amy's sweaty palm, pushed past Shadow and Amy's protective barrier and headed towards the bushes.

They rustled. Every step she took caused another shake, a more violent one each time. Miserie tiptoed closer and closer.

"Here!" Miserie pushed open the bushes. "See! I told you!" She revealed an immense human, with long orange whiskers and small glasses. He was bruised and beaten and bleeding all over, looking more like a fox out of commission than a Fox ready for battle.

Amy took a long stare. Shadow stared too.

"Pinch me, I'm dreaming." Amy said to Shadow. Shadow lifted his hand as if he was in a trance, not taking his widened eyes off of the human, and pinched Amy. "OWW! Not that hard!" She screeched. Shadow didn't even listen to her.

"You…" He muttered.

Miserie looked at the human, who was smirking almost too mean like at both of them. "Well, well, well. What an unlikely team!" the human said.

"Do you…Know this human?" Miserie asked. "He's really big. Hey, Mister, I can tell you how to speed up your metabolism so that your body won't be so"

"Miserie, get away from him!" Amy screeched again. "He's Eggman! He's an evil doctor!"

"Doctor…" Shadow repeated. "Doctor Robotnik…"

"What!" Miserie cried. She whirled to face the Human again, grabbing his shirt. "Robotnik? Like Professor Robotnik?" she looked him over. "No way!" She breathed. Then she let him go. "Hey! Maybe he can tell us what"

"No!" Shadow said. Amy took out a giant hammer. "Amy?"

"…You!" Amy cried angrily. "What are you planning, Eggman? Why are you putting the Chaos Emeralds on Angel Island?"

"Me?" The human, now known as Eggman (or was it Doctor?) asked. "Me put the Chaos Emeralds in YOUR hands? So that Sonic could beat me in a single stretch? Think again, hedgehog!" He snickered evilly. "Someone's been stealing my Emeralds! And I have a feeling it's that sneaky little bat girl, ROUGE." He said.

"Rouge?" Shadow asked. He had stopped gaping with a glazed over look, and was now narrowing his eyes again, standing with his arms crossed and facing away from all of them.

Amy shook her head. "No way. That doesn't make sense. Rouge loves jewels, she wouldn't leave them on the Island!" Then Amy jumped. "HEY! I told him where the Emeralds were! I can't let you get away!"

Miserie shook her head. "He can't go anywhere." She said. "Look at those injuries! If we can't even splint Shadow's leg, there's no way we could help him!"

Shadow didn't reply, but Miserie knew he was secretly agreeing.

"Who could possibly have the technology to even build something stronger than what the chaos emeralds can bring forth?" Amy asked. "Tails said it was a constant source of energy!" she said.

"It is." Shadow said. "It's a constant supply of energy."

Eggman also told them, "They're all the same strength while alone. None more powerful than the next."

"But how do they work?" Miserie asked. "How is it that they have all that energy in them? And…just why are they on Angel Island?"

"I don't know where they're from, but they work with…wave…uhm…" Amy shook her head. Never mind. All I know is the Master Emerald cancels their effect."

"The Master emerald makes the Chaos Emeralds just Emeralds." Shadow said. "And the chaos emeralds have to be brought together slowly, otherwise you'll have a Chaos Control."

"So they work by…wave…WAVELENGTH!" Miserie said. "Am I right?"

Eggman said nothing, and neither did Shadow or Amy. Miserie continued:

"If they work by wavelength, that means everytime you get one, you have to wait until the wavelengths match. If all…all…"

"Seven," Amy put in.

"If all seven have the same wavelength, then the power generated would never end! The supply would be greater than normal!" Miserie continued.

"Yeah?" Shadow said.

"Oh! Tails was talking about this!" Amy said. "The Wavelength of the Chaos Emeralds could be disturbing something else!"

"That's right." Eggman said.

"But…" Miserie hesitated.

"But WHAT?" Shadow asked.

"Why does the Master Emerald nullify the Chaos Emeralds? And since it does, doesn't that mean they'll all be on the same wavelength?"

"Why does that matter?" Amy asked.

"The people who are putting it on Angel Island KNOW the power of the Chaos Emeralds! They're waiting to collect all seven! Then they'll take them from you, to form the strongest machine you'll ever see!" Miserie exclaimed.

The forest was silent. Even the birds didn't make a noise.

"Another stupid fox." Eggman said, but he probably didn't mean it. Miserie knew what she had said hit them all hard. Although she didn't know much about the Emeralds, she knew one thing for sure- The Emerald's power was one to be reckoned with, and they couldn't let anyone use that power against them.

But who knew so much about them, and why? Would shadow and Amy start working together to get everyone out of the Forest? What about Eggman? And could they reach in time? If they didn't could this 'Tails' figure ANYTHING out on his own? Or…Or would they all suffer at the hands of this horrible thing that was being born of raw power?


	23. File 5 Entry 3 Lost and Found

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: and now a word from our sponsors:

RyukoVulpix- Thank you so much for the review! Yes! It was so wonnerful! Demonmastersyou- yesh, well, I like being strange THANK YOU! And uhm…if my story s strange…why did you bother reviewing…? It's okay, I don't hate you!Shadow's Dark Angel- thank you for loving my story! My internet is the suckiest thing on this planet yes. It be worse if was still dial up. ROAR! Chocolate and waffles SOO Rule! Yersi Fanel- I know, I was mad that I made Amy yell at Shadow, but it gets better, trust me! Shadow's such a sweet heart in my fanfictions…I can't make him evil. Darn! You will see in this upcoming chapter! And now back to your regular TV channel….

_File 5 Maria; ver 1 :dot: oh_

_Entry 3- Lost and Found_

* * *

Miserie wanted to help Shadow and Amy drag the Doctor, but they told her not to.

"Don't worry about it," Amy had said. "Me and Shadow can handle it."

When Miserie tried to tell her that they might need her help, Shadow silenced her by actually talking to Amy.

"You're right," he had said. "So Miserie, you can just lead the way or something."

Miserie didn't argue with that logic. So here she was, walking.

Miserie had made it up a hill, but Shadow and Amy were helping the Doctor stand up so that he could sort of walk up the hill. There was a lot of murmuring, and then: "Miserie, Eggman crashed a little farther away from here!" Amy said suddenly.

Miserie jumped at Amy's voice. She turned around. "Reall" She started to say, before she slid on mud and went flying down the hill. "Wah!" She squeaked, squeezing her eye shut.

She felt herself hit something, but something was holding her up. The sticky mud was no longer underneath her. Miserie cautiously opened her eye.

Shadow had picked her up, but he wasn't paying attention to her at the moment. "What are we even looking for?" He was looking at the Doctor.

"My ship, of course, stupid Hedgehog!" the Doctor said irritably.

"Are you okay, Miserie?" Amy asked. Miserie nodded. Shadow looked down at her like he didn't even know she was there. He put her down on her feet and said:

"Watch where you step, Miserie." He halfway smiled, but then he looked back at the Doctor with a frown.

Miserie nodded, but she couldn't say anything. Amy and Shadow kept talking with the doctor, who was giving them directions. Miserie finally figured it out.

"So we're looking for a big ship? In THAT direction?" She asked, pointing to her left, which was Shadow's, Amy's, and the Doctor's right.

"Yeah." Shadow said.

"And because it's Eggman's ship, we shouldn't be bringing him there. You should be grateful you're already all beat up." Amy said.

"Amy!" Miserie said.

"What?" Amy asked.

"This isn't the time to be arguing!" The Doctor said. "We need to hurry and get the last of the Emeralds!"

"He's got a point." Amy said.

"We don't even know if it's there." Shadow said. But he nodded to Amy and they both took a hold of the Doctor's arms.

Miserie hurried ahead, trying to find the ship first. She had an idea of one just like Ark.

She could hear Amy calling her, but this was exciting! It was like a labyrinth or a puzzle. Miserie kept searching and searching instead of turning back.

"I found it!" She cried happily, coming across a huge ship. "Wow…" She murmured, staring. She could see Robots fixing the ship, it looked almost finished. "Amy! Shadow!" She called, turning around.

She heard a series of beeps and she turned back around. "Oh nooo!" She cried, as a mob of angry robots stormed towards her. Stumbling, she dashed back to Shadow and Amy. "Shadow! Amy! Help!" she screamed.


	24. File 5 Entry 4 Survival of the Fittest

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I didn't like my last chapter because it was too nice. I'm too nice. Oh darn it all!

_File 5- Maria; ver 1:dot:oh_

_Entry 4- Survival of the Fittest_

* * *

Miserie tripped over her feet and landed face down on the ground. She pushed herself up, feeling slow and stupid. "If I don't…If I don't get out of here…" She whined to herself, getting back onto her feet.

"I swear, she listened before," Miserie heard Amy. Not far off! Miserie took a step, but she knew that the robots behind her would catch up before she could reach them.

"I have to do it…I have to fight them off." She murmured sadly. She turned around, shaking in fear. The first robot that reach her was swinging a huge cleaver. "Wah!" She cried. But she couldn't run away, because she couldn't depend on her feet anymore than she could depend on the robot suddenly falling in love with her. She set her face, and whirled around with her two tails hitting her target like a knife. She turned to see the robot broken in two pieces. "Eiyah!" She cried at her work.

Even as she cried, she could hear Shadow far off, saying "What was that?"

Still more robots were coming. A Robot wielding a hot wax gun threw Miserie to her haunches. It pointed it's gun at her, it's metallic finger lingering only a second over the trigger before she kicked it out of it's hand. She got up as the robot hurried to it's gun, and slammed her body into it's body, making it land on the gun, which fired a hot sticky shot of glue onto the robot, securing the robot to the ground. Miserie couldn't look at her work this time, she had to launch herself into another attack. A white robot was thrown by her tails into bushes, followed by a green one, and they were crushed under s rock thrown by a gigantic blue one, that was finally defeated with knife like swings from Miserie's tails.

Miserie heard Amy now: "We're closer, I can see her! Miserie!"

"Amy!" Miserie whirled around. "Shadow! Amy!" She cried, hurrying their way. But the earth trembled when a boulder smashed into the place where Miserie once was. Miserie sprawled on the ground, looking back at the boulder. A shadow passed over the boulder, and… "Oh, no!" Miserie cried as a second boulder shot over her head, about to land on her. She tried to get up, but slipped in the mud.

A flash of yellow and the boulder hit the ground. Miserie's eyes were squeezed shut automatically. She felt her eyes well up with tears.

"Miserie! Are you okay? Speak to me, Miserie!" She heard Amy, but Amy sounded so far away.

"Here, take her. Doctor, these are YOUR robots." Shadow said, and Miserie felt herself resting on the ground.

"Well of course they are my robots! Have you any idea how long that take to build?" The Doctor said.

"For you, I'm sure the time just flies," Amy said wryly.

Miserie slowly opened her eye. She had her head in Amy's lap, and the rest of her body on the ground. She looked over at Shadow and the Doctor, who were arguing over the robots.

"I said DON'T!" the doctor yelled.

"They're attacking US, and we saved you! If I don't destroy them, I'll destroy you!" Shadow threatened.

"…Amy." Miserie said, getting up. Her head hurt, probably from being jostled up from the ground so quickly.

"Oh, Miserie!" Amy hugged Miserie happily. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. My head kinda hurts." Miserie said. "Amy, I saw the ship…it was really big, and all the Robots were fixing it…"

"Oh?" Amy said. "How far away?"

"I'm telling you, you little hedgehog, you're not destroying my- GET BACK HERE!" The Doctor struggled to his feet.

"Not very far. I can't run very fast. I don't know why. I trip and fall. Amy, why do I trip so much?" Miserie asked. She felt woozy. Not only did the destroying the robots get to her, but the running and the boulder and everything! She was emotionally drained.

"I don't know. Have you tried flying?"

"Flying?" Miserie asked. She shook her head. "No."

"Tails can fly…" Amy said. "I think you can too."

"Just who is this 'Tails'?" Miserie asked. "He seems like he can do everything."

"You two are alike, that's all. He's smart, has two-tails, and he's…how old are you, Miserie?"

"I don't know. I don't know anything about myself." Miserie said. "I'm smart?"

"Of course you are, Miserie!" Amy said. "Remember how you figured out what was really going on with the Emeralds? Only a genius could figure that out!"

"…But could a toy figure that out?" Miserie insisted.

"A toy? Well, it can't be an ordinary toy. What kind?" Amy asked.

"…A plaything…just something to play with." Miserie said. "nothing special."

"I don't think so, Miserie." Amy said. She opened her mouth to continue, but Shadow interuptted.

"Hurry, Amy, Miserie! Grab the Doctor and get out of here!" He commanded.

"But!" Miserie cried.

"No way, Miserie!" Shadow silenced her. "You're not gonna wait here for me, or get hurt or anything. Just go!"

Miserie glanced at Amy, who was helping the Doctor walk.

"OR you could move your feet," Amy was saying.

Miserie looked back at Shadow. "You're coming with us, Shadow…" She trailed off. "Right?"

Shadow nodded. "No problem, kid." He smiled.

"Okay." Miserie smiled back. "I won't let them leave without you, Shadow!" She said. Then she ran over to Amy.

"I don't need any diet!" the Doctor said indignatly. "And I'll get one of my robots to fix these wounds!"

"They mutiny." Miserie said to Amy. "That means that they are rebelling."

"right." Amy said. "Let's get to that ship now."

Miserie looked back at Shadow, who was busy fighting Robots off. She stared at him for a couple of seconds, but then she turned back to help Amy.

'If He leaves without Shadow, I won't forgive him…Even if his last name is Robotnik! I won't!' Miserie thought, and then she helped Amy and The doctor to the ship


	25. File 5 Entry 5 Infinite Passion

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: My blackbelt test for Tae Kwon Do is coming up soon…I'm so scared I'll mess up. I've only got ONE chance, I can't do over. Every thing has to be perfect.

I'm less than perfect.

Do you think I'll pass?

_File 5 Maria; ver one:dot:oh_

_Entry 5 Infinite Passion_

* * *

'Shadow…' Miserie thought, as Amy helped the Doctor into his ship. She looked back, wondering if Shadow was okay.

"He'll be fine." Amy said. Miserie turned her head to see Amy smiling at her. "He'll come back, Miserie."

"…Is he?" Miserie asked. "But…"

"I promise." Amy said. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

Miserie recoiled. "That's HORRIBLE!" She cried.

Amy laughed. "That's how we say we won't break a promise, Miserie. I'm not gonna die." She grinned.

Miserie sighed. "Okay." She smiled at Amy. "I believe you."

"You two! Stop sitting around! There's still crucial things to be done! The ship, it needs fixing!" The doctor was yelling.

"I've got it!" Miserie cried. She looked at one of the ships orange wings. "They seem fine." She said to Amy. Amy shrugged.

"I'm no tech whiz." Amy said. "But here." She gave Miserie a yellow bracelet.

"What's this?" Miserie asked. She turned it over and over in her hands. "What does it do?"

"It's a bracelet. I make them. This one was originally for Tails. It'll enhance your brainwaves." Amy grinned.

"How?" Miserie asked. "Is there something in it?"

"No!" Amy said. "Did you know? I'm a psychic! I can tell this will help your brainwaves. The beads I used are infused with"

"Wait! I know!" Miserie said. "Look at the beads! Fish, isn't that brainfood? And…That's a lightbulb! I remember something about those…and this one is…It's a noodle? Why?"

"Use your noodle!" Amy said, poking Miserie square in the forehead. "You'll see."

"…Alright." Miserie put on the bracelet. "I'll wear it."

"Good!" Amy said. "Now don't worry. I think Eggman said something about repairs, so I'm gonna go hide somewhere so I don't have to destroy anything here. Okay?"

"…Okay!" Miserie said. As Amy walked into the ship, Miserie looked around for any tools the robots might have left over. She found a wrench and a screwdriver, but nothing else. "This won't do…" She looked at the ship. "They finished most of it, but… maybe it's the Engine that's blown…" She ran around to the back of the ship. "Yeah, it IS!" She looked at the back of the ship, which was damaged beyond recognition. "…I can't fix the whole thing…" Miserie moaned. But she got to work.

'…I hope you're coming, Shadow…'


	26. File 6 Entry 1 Found!

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: Sowwies! Document Manager doesn't load my info! Wah! Fortunately, the Fanfiction Team was there to save me! Unfortunately, I probably e-mailed the wrong people. Ahahahaha.

_File 6 Crashing Waves_

_Entry 1 Found!

* * *

_

"I can't find Eggman's bases anywhere!" Tails said, looking at his radar. "What about you, Knuckles?" He spoke into a walkie-talkie. Knuckles was soaring at least a hundred feet above the plane, checking the sky for a flying armada.

"Nothing." Knuckles voice crisply buzzed in. "I did see a fleet fly by, but they weren't Eggman. It was sorta suspicious."

"how do you know it wasn't Eggman?" Tails asked. "how far away are they?"

"They just passed. And we flew so close. If it was Eggman, he would have opened fire, wouldn't he?"

"What direction are they headed?" Tails asked.

"Well, behind us. But not towards the island." Knuckles said. "since we turned off the island. Right?"

"Yeah, but we should follow them, just in case. What if it is Eggman, trying to make a clean getaway?" Tails asked.

"I don't know." Knuckles said. "I'm turning now." He informed Tails. Tails nodded. He looked back at Sonic, who was waiting patiently on the tail of the ship. Since Sonic could neither steer the plane nor fly, he had no job to do. Instead, he was waiting for when they found Eggman. Then, he could infiltrate the base. "Sonic! We think we've found him!"

"No, YOU think we've found him." Knuckles said. Tails ignored him.

"S'about time…" Sonic yawned. "I'm ready."

"There's a problem though, Sonic!" Tails said to Sonic. Sonic nodded and Tails continued. "We're not absolutely certain it is Eggman!"

"So what are you saying, that I can't make my usual big entrance?" Sonic asked. "Alright…takes all the fun out of this though…"

Tails shook his head. "Let's go!" he said to Knuckles.

"Alright!" Knuckles said. Tails wasn't sure how high above them Knuckles was. He turned the plane and kept an eye on the sky.

Sonic called to Tails, "Hey Tails, Check that out!" Tails looked back at Sonic, who was pointing at hundreds of birds flying out of a forest. Tails blinked.

"I wonder what's happening?" Tails asked Sonic. Sonic shrugged.

"Do you think we should check it out?"

"I'll mark it on the map!" Tails pressed a button, and his holographic map, which pointed out where the ship was and what direction it was headed in, and any metallic things in a fifty mile radius, popped up. Tails marked the forest with a poke of his finger. They would return… The holographic map beeped and zoomed in on the forest. Something… Something metal was there! "sonic, there could be something in that forest!" Tails grinned at Sonic. Leave it to him to find out something big.

"Maybe Knuckles should head that way. Since he can talk with you, you probably should scan the air. Plus, he might be tired by now." Sonic suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Tails called. He said to Knuckles, "Do you see all those birds?"

"Yeah. What about them?"

"You know the forest over there? There's something metallic over there! I'll scan the skies, you see what's there, okay?"

"Yeah, no Problem." Knuckles said. "But what if the walkie-talkies don't work that far a distance?"

"It's okay! These have a private radio line! No problem!" Tails grinned at his genius. "I'll find the fleet!"

"Okay then!" Knuckles said. "It'll be good to get a rest anyway."

Tails nodded to himself. "This is gonna be so great!"


	27. File 6 Entry 2 Mother

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: I haven't changed my settings for a while, but thanks again to Shadow's Dark Angel, Yersi Fanel,RyukuVulpix (whose name I probably spelled wrong, wah!)DragonMasterKyra (sweetly scented reviewer!), and RemedyTheThief (another sweetly scented Reviewer!) Woo! I love you all! Yayyyyy!

_File 6 Crashing Waves_

_Entry 2 Mother

* * *

"Tails!" Sonic whispered into his walkie-talkie. Tails jumped to attention in his plane seat. He had been lazily flying behind the fleet of ships. _

"Yessir!" Tails whispered back. He had to flick Knuckles' connection off to let Sonic onboard and have a private line to talk to him on, but Tails was sure that Knuckles wouldn't mind.

"Found something funny." Sonic said softly. Tails nodded, then realized Sonic couldn't see him.

"What is it?" Tails asked. He kept his distance behind the fleet. He had gotten too close to drop Sonic off. There had been one warning shot. Tails was positive there wouldn't be another.

"Well, the thing is, you'd really fit in with these guys." Sonic said. "Yup. They have like everything on here."

"Is that it?"

"Are you ready for the punch line? They're all foxes!" Sonic explained.

"…So…?" Tails asked.

"Oh come on!" Sonic whispered. "YOUR foxes! Two-tails, extra genius included…"

"WHAT!" Tails screamed.

"HEY!" Sonic harshly whispered. "D'ya want them to oh crap…"

"Do I want them to oh crap?" Tails asked.

"…They found me." Sonic said. And then his line went dead.

"Oh nooo!" Tails moaned. "This does NOT go well at all!" He looked down at his control panel. "It's a good thing I restocked my missiles, but forty-five super missiles will definitely not destroy this fleet." Tails watched the planes in the fleet ahead of him. If he could get them to chase after a missile, maybe he could swerve in for a real crash landing on the main plane. The problem was, he wasn't sure which plane Sonic was on, because Sonic was on one of the follow up protection planes.

But all Tails had to do was wait. Not only did he know what plane Sonic was on but he knew how to land his ship after he saw one of the smaller planes (most likely holding Sonic) flying into a shaft in the larger plane.

"Aw-right!" Tails grinned. He pressed the super missile button, sending a pack of five missiles flying at the main ship. Instantly, three of the protection planes were on it. And with the amount of planes there were there, Tails wouldn't make it in without losing a wing. "Okay then! All super missiles, go!"

Forty four packs of five missiles went flying at the main ship. Tails sneaked into the main ship unnoticed.

Landing in one of the many ports there, Tails exited his ship and stared around him. The ship was immense! This landing deck was one of the biggest he'd ever seen! Which was perfect, because the Tornado wouldn't be seen, hopefully.

Tails heard a door open. He hid behind a ship quickly.

"It's bad enough that little upstart fox had to come with that hedgehog. Now here comes another one." Said one voice. It sounded angry and harsh, and male.

"Now, Railside…" said a gentle voice. It was male too. "The other fox was just confused. You know how young ones are. She caused quite the rising with Rosemary and the women."

_ROSEMARY? Isn't that…_ Tails thought. But he still listened.

"Yes, she did, didn't she." The first voice said. "My Rhonda really liked her, but I'm already mad enough at her and her mother for letting the stupid love of rock music to"

"Railside…" The second voice said. "You're so stubborn, just like your father."

"I'm NOTHING like my father!" the first voice, Railside, yelled. The room echoed with his anger.

"…I'm sorry." Said the second voice. "I just"

"No. No, you're right, Talon. I'm like him. I'm so much like him…" Railside said. "But when Rhonda came home telling me about this girl…What was her name again? Miserie, there we go. She kept telling me about how cool she was and everything else, and how she came from ARK, and she knew of Rosemary's son…I was so mad! I couldn't understand why someone like…that little ragmuffin could possibly even dare to look at Rosemary and Amadeus' son."

"She didn't know, probably. She didn't come from around us."

Tails could see their feet now. They were wearing silvery shoes that extended up. They were coming for the ship that he was hiding behind!

"Hey, who's there?" Asked Railside. Tails panicked. Obviously, they had seen his shoes too!"

"Another hedgehog?" Talon asked.

"Come out!" Railside commanded. Tails looked around. If he ran for the Tornado, they would follow. He could only do one thing- knock them out and go look for Sonic. He had to tell Sonic what he had overheard. Was it possible? Another two-tailed fox they hadn't known of? …from ArK!


	28. File 6 Entry 3 Safeguard

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: Phoo, doesn't it seem like so long since we heard from Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles? I know, it's been so ridiculously long. However, all they were doing were looking for any of Robotnik's old functioning bases. You know how that saying goes… once beaten, an evil doctor might return to one of his old discarded base to heal and make up a new plan to take over the world in which the hero probably is aware of but never actually checks it out and then the dastardly plan goes into action and again it's up to the hero to save the day!

Yeah. You hear that one a lot.

_File 6 Crashing Waves_

_Entry 3 Safeguard_

* * *

Talon and Railside were so close! Tails could hear his heart beat faster and faster. 'Here goes!' he thought.

He stepped out from behind the plane, to face an older graying fox and a young brown furred fox. Tails widened his eyes at them, surprised to see their two sets of two tails swishing out from their full body armor. They gasped in shock.

"You…You're…!" said the younger brown furred one. That was obviously Talon. He had long fur extending from behind his ears that was thrown carelessly into a ponytail. He blinked. "could it be…?"

"Who are…you?" Railside, obviously the older, graying fox, gasped. Railside had cream colored fur with large patches of gray. His full body armor had so many enhancements in so many colors that he looked more like a skittles rainbow than a fox. Tails was surprised pieces of candy weren't falling from the ceiling.

"I'm Tails." Tails said, slowly. "Miles 'Tails' Prower."

"Miles Prower!" Talon said. "It's an honor to meet you!" And both of the foxes bowed down on their knees. Tails was confused, but he figured that he could save Sonic with his new control.

"Listen…" Tails said, slowly. "I came to get one of my friends."

"What?" Railside looked up. "A friend of yours? On board our ships? But we left the homeland only a couple hours ago. Since no one there actually knows you, you have no friends, except for your admirers, aboard this ship."

"No, my friend's a hedgehog. A blue one. He's got green eyes, and shoes like mine. He, uhm…He ejected by accident and went flying into your fleet. So I came to save him and"

"What luck! We had that hedgehog! Don't worry, Miles!" Talon said. "He's going to be exterminated soon!"

"Exterminated!" Tails cried. He jumped over the two bowing foxes. "No way! I'm coming, Sonic!" He ran to the door where Railside and Talon had come through and into the boy of the ship.

Twists and turns everywhere! Tails couldn't stop to stare, but he had no clue where he was going. He dashed through endless hallways, turning back several times before finally reaching a big set of silver doors. He pushed them open a crack and peeked inside.

They had caged Sonic up! He was in a big test tube sort of thing. Tails couldn't think of the word right now. He was no rocket scientist, but he had seen enough of this stuff in the sci-fi movies Amy rented, to know that was bad. A gaggle of foxes swinging their tails around huddled in a corner.

Sonic made eye contact with Tails. His mouth opened in shock, but he said nothing. Tails didn't have anything to save him with, but he could exert his newfound control over the scientists. Still, if they didn't know he was there, that would be better. It wasn't like a whole colony would believe in two foxes anyway.

Like a secret agent, Tails entered the room, his back rubbing a very cold wall. Sonic watched. Tails saw a machine he could hide behind. He quickly somersaulted behind it.

"…Hear something?" Asked one of the foxes on the other side of the room.

"Oh, no." Someone else said. "But…" they went back to murmuring in the corner. Tails peeked out to see Sonic kicking the side of his test tube. Tails understood. 'It must be some sort of super strong glass! But WHAT kind?' Tails thought. 'Resistance? Bulletproof? One way?'

Upon further inspection Tails noticed something. Crouched behind the machine, he could see diagonally into the glass. And he could see that the glass at the top wasn't the same heavy-duty stuff than at the bottom, where Sonic was! Which meant, if he wanted to free Sonic… all they had to do was break the glass!

He tried to tell Sonic, but Sonic obviously didn't understand. He stared at Tails as if he was playing the tissue comb (a hard to play instrument, I'm sure). Tails sighed, a very bad move.

"Did you hear that!" one of the scientist asked.

"Was it that hedgehog?"

"Stupid thing. It probably can't even understand us!" Said a third.

"Yeah, right, I can't understand you!" Sonic yelled. "Lemme outta here!"

"Did it SAY something?" Asked the first scientist.

"Shock it!" the other two cheered.

Tails couldn't take it. "Oh no you DON'T!" He cried, spinning his two tails. "I've gotcha, Sonic!" Tails flew into the thinner glass at the top, shattering it completely. Sonic dove out of the test tube thing.

"THAT was what you were trying to tell me?" Sonic panted.

"Yeah…" Tails said, smiling. His arm hurt where he had rammed the glass.

"YOU! Who are you?" One of scientists yelped.

"Press the button!" another said. The third had already fisted a red button.

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!" a siren wailed.

"Aah! Better get outta here!" Tails said.

"You're not going anywhere!" Two of the scientists said.

"Young man," said the first one, "you should be back at the homeland, with your mother. Now who are you?"

"I'm Tails!" Tails said, sighing. "Miles 'Tails' Prower."

"…WHAT!" all three scientists said together.

They huddled up.

"It can't be!"

"but it is!"

"Yes, it must be true, I've never seen him before anyway!"

The door that Tails had sneaked through burst open. In walked Railside, Talon, and some other assembled guards.

"Seize the hedgehog! He's trying to hurt Miles!" Railside commanded.

"No!" Tails cried. "Don't touch him!"

Sonic looked dazed at the reaction of the whole group. They stared at Tails like he had two heads.

By this time, the siren had stopped wailing. There was scuffling coming from the hallway.

Foxes crowded into the room. Murmuring started, and their eyes widened and they started bowing.

"What in the world is going on here?" Sonic muttered.

"…No idea." Tails said. "But this isn't gonna be pretty…"


	29. File 6 Entry 4 Viper

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: Yesh! More reviews! I love you all!

Shadowsdarkangel, thanks so much! And I'll so pass that test, just for you guys! Welcome new reviewer chaogirl! Yay!

Which reminds me, I have a Xanga, My name is Tailschaoball. Some fart used it before I remember I got a lot of hate messages because they sucked at story writing (not to be mean, but don't steal my stuff… I kill those people and feed them to my cat…) So if you feel like reading about my other weird antics, quirks, and anime stories (as well as cool ways to raise your chao, I'm so good) you can visit! Yay!

_File 6 Crashing Waves_

_Entry 4 Viper_

* * *

As whispers resonated through the room, Sonic and Tails stood, like statues, as more and more foxes entered the room. Bowing and whispering, it seemed everyone was worshipping Tails.

"Why…are they bowing?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know…" Tails said back. He looked at Sonic. "How are we gonna get out of"

"Miles…? Miles!" A fox cried. The room parted.

Tails and Sonic stared down an older graying fox. Her fur was parted, and back in a ponytail like Talons. But hers was much longer and had different colors woven into it, braided into small knots. She wasn't wearing the armor of the others. Instead, she had on what looked like a ninja suit.

"Uhm, hi." Tails said, waving a little bit. "Who are you?"

"You don't recognize me?" the fox asked. She sounded sad.

"Sorry." Tails said.

Sonic looked closer at the fox. "Tails…" he sounded astonished. "Tails, that's your mom!" She wasn't paying attention to Sonic.

"Mom!" Tails exclaimed incredulously.

Now the older fox grinned. "You do recognize me!" she said. "I am Rosemary Prower, your mother. Oh, Tails. You look so much like your father…"

Tails blinked, then looked at Sonic. "Is that…a compliment?"

"Yeah." Sonic said. He grinned.

Tails turned back to his mother. "Mom, I"

"Did you come to visit us? Such good timing!" His mother said. She came towards him, and Tails took two steps backwards into Sonic.

"What are you afraid of?" Sonic asked. "Aren't you happy? It's your mom!"

Tails nodded. "But…"

He heard a gasp and looked at his mother. She was staring in shock at Sonic, who was frowning.

"How long has he been here?" Rosemary turned on the troops, who ducked their heads. "You know by Amadeus' name, there is to be NO HEDGEHOG PRESENCE. How dare you go against such a solemn rule? Why is he still free?"

Talon raised his head, saying, "M'lady, there was a slight…problem." He looked at Railside, who shook his head. Obviously, he was afraid of Rosemary. "Miles told us not to kill him…He said that they were friends…"

"Friends? Doesn't anyone want to tell him his Father's story?" The room was silent. Rosemary turned back to Tails. "Miles, dear. That hedgehog is.."

Tails looked at Sonic, then at his mother. "Mom…" He said softly. "I can't let you do anything to Sonic. He was there for me. He's like my big brother. And if you kill him, then I'm dead too." The whole room was quiet. "So I can't let you…I won't let you hurt Sonic."

Rosemary looked sad. "you know, that's how your father felt." She said. "You really are just like him. But I can't let your sweet nature be taken advantage of, Miles. Seize the hedgehog!"

Tails widened his eyes. "What?"

Sonic widened his eyes as a wave of foxes came at him. "Whoah!" He cried. "Tails, Come on!"

Tails whipped his tails like a propeller. "Let's go!" He said to Sonic, regretting having to leave his mother.

Sonic grabbed Tails' hands and they went soaring over the wave of foxes. They gaped up at Tails, who landed by the big silver doors. Sonic pulled his friend through the doors and they were back in the labyrinth of hallways.

"Which way?" Sonic asked, and Tails couldn't tell him.

"Try every door!" Tails said. "We don't have a choice!"

Meanwhile, Tails worried about his mother and father. WHAT happened to his father? Why? And…who was gonna tell him?

"Miles!" Tails recognized Talon. Sonic started to speed up, but they both heard: "NO! That's the wrong way!"

Sonic skidded to a stop. "WHAT!" He asked.

Talon beckoned. "Follow me!" He said. "If you go that way, you'll be caught! Hurry! We'll take a secret route!" He led both Sonic and Tails quickly through the labyrinth back to the landing deck. He explained to them as they ran. "I understand what you're going through. I guess it's really unreasonable. The Ancient Ones heard Rosemary's case, about Amadeus. They said that all of the hedgehogs must be killed…Amadeus was your father, Miles"

"…Call me Tails." Tails said.

"Tails." Talon said. "And you?" he turned to look at Sonic as he opened a door.

"My name's Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog!" Sonic grinned.

"It's good to meet you, Sonic…I'm sorry about before. No hard feelings, right?" Sonic nodded, and Talon continued, "I had a friendship like yours when I was little. My best friend as a kid wasn't a hedgehog, she was… she was an echidna."

"An echidna? Like Knuckles!" Sonic said.

"What was her name?" Tails asked.

"Nyamo." Talon said. "She was…everything to me. I mean, she was always there. But since that rule was passed, they won't let me see her. Echidna's are the same as hedgehogs in the Ancient Ones' eyes." Talon sighed as he walked them into the landing dock. "So I understand what you mean by friends. And what you said before, Tails, that woke me up. So I'm gonna help you out of here, if…"

"If?" Sonic asked.

"If you take me with you."


	30. File 6 Entry 5 Scraped Talons

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: I never feel like I write good chapters. Like that last one, if feels so dull…grrr…

So here's one! YEAH!

_File 6 Crashing Waves_

_Entry 5 Scraped Talons_

* * *

Sonic and Tails looked at each other.

"What if you're just setting us up?" Sonic asked. Tails knew Talon wouldn't. For some reason, he trusted Talon's story.

"I wouldn't." Talon reach into his armor. "Look." He pulled out a photo of him and a cream colored echidna. "That's Nyamo." He said. "See that necklace on her neck?" He pointed. Sure enough, there was a necklace made with blue and black beads on her neck The charm in the middle was a large pendant with a bump lifting out the middle.

"What's that?" Tails asked.

"It's a compass." Talon took the same necklace in the picture out of his armor. "The day I was told never to see her again, I got this from her. But…" He sounded so upset. "I could only give her this." He pointed at himself in the picture. His finger was on top of a small book.

"And that is…?" Sonic asked.

"It's a diary. Mine." Talon said. "I told her to keep it. I don't know where she is, but I know she's treasuring it."

Tails looked at Sonic again. "…So…are we going to do it?"

Sonic nodded. "But you'll have to get rid of the armor." He said to Talon. "It'll be a long plane trip, and we've gotta take the Tornado."

"He's right!" Tails said. "Hurry, Sonic! Help Talon with the armor! I'll get the Tornado!"

Tails hurried to his plane and turned it on. The engine sputtered to a start, and Sonic and a thinner, more lithe Talon followed.

"Let's go get Knuckles," Tails said to Sonic. He flicked on his radio and switched it to Knuckles line, as Talon and Sonic climbed on the back of the plane.

"WAHHHH! KILL HIM!" came a scream from the radio. Sonic and Talon jumped. An explosion followed.

"NOOOO!" came a shrill little voice. "AMY! LOOK OUT!"

"Amy!" Sonic cried. "Hurry, Tails!"

"Amy's in trouble!" Tails worried. He blasted his way out of the ship, and when he glanced back, he saw Talon giving the ship a long hard, yet sad look. 'Sorry…' Tails thought. 'But we can't turn back now…' he looked down at the radio and said, "Amy, Knuckles! We're on our way!"


	31. File 7 Entry 1 The Way It Is

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: What does Talon have to do with anything? He's got everything to do with everything! Firstly, he's a ladies man. Not to get anyone too interested in him, but he's one of my first characters. He's average height, has dark colored brown fur with cream colored highlights (his mother was like a blondie fox, hehe), and he's got long fur starting from behind his ears, and ending at the nape of his neck. Why? You'll find out soon enough!

_File 7 Bright Smile_

_Entry 1 The Way it Is_

* * *

Shadow looked for Amy. He had just been watching Miserie fixing the engine of the ship, but Miserie wouldn't let him help with his arm in the condition it was in.

It had been shot, but there wasn't really much pain. Not really a lot of blood either.

"Amy?" Shadow called. He went inside the ship, where the Doctor was typing away at his computer. "Doctor…"

The Doctor turned. "All my robots are destroyed, you mangy hedgehog," he hissed.

"Well, yeah." Shadow said, rolling his eyes. "They WERE attacking."

"This operation would have gone much faster with them. The girl fox isn't even hitting work minimum. WHERE'S THAT PINK HEDGEHOG?"

Shadow sighed. As the Doctor went on a rampage about how good help was hard to build, he went back outside. He sat on the ground and looked around.

He was worried that Amy was off hurting herself. 'Stupid girl,' he thought. 'Why I care I really don't know.' He got up and walked back over to Miserie.

"Shadow, did you find her?" Miserie asked. She looked at his arm. "I guess not…"

"Hm." He said. He sat down and watched Miserie struggle to fix the ship with three tools. "…Do you want me to help?" he asked finally.

"I want you to find Amy…Shadow…?" Miserie said, stopping and looking at him.

"What?" He asked. Miserie smiled.

"You talked to her, Shadow…" Miserie smiled. "I'm so happy. I think we can all be friends again."

Shadow shrugged. "You don't think I'm selfish, do you?" he asked.

"No. Why would I think that?" Miserie asked. She sat down next to him. "You don't keep anything from me. You're always there for me. And you help me all the time." She paused. "You're such a good brother, Shadow."

Shadow was surprised, but he smiled. "Only you." He shook his head. Miserie grinned.

"You are like my older brother. You're always watching out for me. I remember Amy said you weren't anything like me, but I think she's wrong. We're alike, aren't we?"

"If you say so." Shadow said. He felt her hugging him, watching out for his broken arm. He looked down at Miserie who had her eye squeezed shut and her arms wrapped tightly around him. "Miserie?"

"You're always so cold on the outside, but you're really warm." Miserie said suddenly to him. She looked up at him. "You know?" she asked.

"…" Shadow smiled. "That's just the way it is." He said.

"…I like it that way." Miserie smiled. "I like everything this way."

Shadow wanted to hug her back. He didn't know how someone with such a mind, one that seemed so simple, like a baby's, could know so much. She was just like a little sister to him too. He smiled again and looked down at Miserie, who had squeezed her eye shut again, but her grip on him was relaxing. He realized she had gone without sleep for days now. Although both Shadow and Amy could live with it, could Miserie? Shadow watched her eye relax too, and he picked her up.

"…You work too hard." He told the sleeping fox. He turned to go back into the ship, when he heard a crash. Shadow turned and stared in the general direction. He could hear a tree thump against the ground, and birds soaring up into the air. "…" He stared, and then looked back at Miserie. He needed to know what was going on, but he couldn't leave Miserie out in the open, and the Doctor wasn't exactly trustworthy either. Finally Shadow put Miserie on his back, and ran off following his ears.

He hoped Amy wasn't there. And if she was, he hoped she was alright.


	32. File 7 Entry 2 Fallen

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: I liked the Shadow/Miserie scene. Basically because I love the relationship that they have. It's like, modeled to be cute. I don't know why though. I wanted Shadow to be sort of standoffish. As you can tell, I don't have this prewritten. There's so many chapters I want to rewrite. But sometimes, people like them, and I'm like 'THAT Chapter! Don't you see the lack of detail? And they're like 'But it's so cute!' and I'm like 'Yeah, suuuure.'

_File 7 Bright Smile_

_Entry 2 Fallen_

* * *

As Shadow ran, he could hear voices.

"Are you okay?" Shadow recognized Amy. He knew it was her. She was the only one who stressed her 'okay'.

"I'm fine. Kinda tired…how did you get here?" Shadow couldn't recognize this voice, but he couldn't be sure of anything. He broke through a set on bushes and then checked on Miserie, who seemed to be in a deep sleep.

"I…can't remember exactly how. But…"

Finally Shadow broke through the last set of bushes. He saw the broken tree on the ground. Then he looked up to see Amy and a familiar Echidna.

The echidna narrowed his eyes. "Shadow…" He muttered.

Amy looked between both of them. "Wait, Knuckles…" she said to the echidna. Then she looked at Shadow. "Your arm, Shadow…" She took a second look. "Oh! Miserie! Is she okay?" Amy fussed. She rushed over to Shadow, leaving a confused Knuckles watching.

"She's fine. Sleeping." Shadow said, and Amy took her away from him.

"…Poor girl. She looks so relaxed now." Amy looked at Knuckles. "You can't hurt Shadow, Knuckles, please don't… He's taking care of Miserie, and he means everything to her! Please don't make her hurt!"

"…Why do you guys have a kid?" Knuckles asked.

Amy turned red. "WHAT!" She cried. Shadow watched a group of birds fly off noisily. "SHE'S A FOX, NOT A HEDGEHOG!"

Knuckles cringed. "Okay, I'm sorry… But why are you with Shadow and…"

"Miserie and Shadow saved me. From…" Amy looked at Shadow. "What was it anyway?"

Shadow didn't reply. He sat down and winced. Then he said, "We landed on the Floating Island, Freedom." He said.

"The Floating Island? That's Angel Island." Amy said.

"No, it wasn't. It was inhabited by foxes." Shadow said. "Foxes like Miserie."

"What's so…Wait…" Knuckles' eye bulged. "Two tails?"

"Yeah." Amy said. "I was surprised too. But she's so cute. You'd love her, Knuckles."

"They don't like Hedgehogs there. They tried to kill me and keep Miserie there. We barely escaped when we saw Amy coming through. Miserie distracted the guards, and I got Amy out of there. Then we started walking the forest. You know it from there." Shadow said dully.

"…So what you're saying is, you saved Amy." Knuckles said. Shadow glared up at him. He didn't like this talky echidna right now.

"Yes, he saved me, Knuckles! …Oh…where's Sonic?" Amy asked.

"I don't know. I wasn't on the plane with him." Knuckles said. "they were chasing down Eggman's fleet."

"Not really," Amy said. "We found Eggman. Actually, we found a very bruised, pitiful Eggman."

"Then who are they chasing?" Knuckles asked.

Shadow sighed. "Hmph." He muttered, looking over at Miserie in Amy's lap.

Miserie wasn't having a good dream. He could tell by her small movements. Amy wasn't really paying attention. Shadow looked back at Knuckles, who was speaking into a walkie-talkie.

"Tails? TAILS! HELLO!" He was yelling.

Shadow shook his head. "the best thing to do right now is get outta here. Once we do that, we can find your little friends."

"…" Knuckles didn't look like he agreed.

"Good of you to join us, Knuckles!" Amy grinned, sealing his fate. Knuckles sighed.

"Fine, whatever." He said, but he glared at Shadow. "I'm keeping my eye on you."

Shadow rolled his eyes again. "You do that." He sighed. "Let's get out of here."


	33. File 7 Entry 3 1 Thing

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: I wrote like a whole file in a day. For some odd reason. I mean, how smart am I. Aren't these supposed to take like, FOREVER!

_File 7 Bright Smile_

_Entry 3 1 Thing

* * *

_

"You teamed up with Eggman?" Knuckles asked.

"We did it before," Amy argued.

"Yeah, but the world was at stake!"

"So? Now Sonic is at stake! He saved the world! What if after he dies, Eggman takes over?"

"Can we not talk about death?"

"Is there a problem, Knuckles?"

"Yeah, actually, there is."

"What's that? You're scared to die?"

"Who said that?"

Shadow sighed. "Are you going to stop?" He asked. Amy had splinted his arm, and they were sitting around a fire by the Doctor's ship. Unfortunately, the Doctor (the moron that he is) couldn't run heat inside the ship because of 'elementary issues'.

"What have you been up to anyway, Shadow?" Knuckles asked, looking like a haunted Echidna.

"Hm." Shadow replied. He didn't bother to reply to his question.

Amy sighed. "How are we supposed to make good conversation if no one wants to talk? It's ridiculous." No one said anything. "You see!" Amy cried.

"…G'morning…" The trio turned around to see a yawning Miserie.

"You're awake!" Amy said, smiling. "Great! We've got someone for you to meet."

"…Yeah…?" Miserie asked, rubbing her eye. She blinked at the fire and then looked up in the sky. "Was I asleep for so long?"

Shadow didn't say anything. Amy, however, put her two cents in.

"You were tired. We have been walking nonstop. You deserved that rest." Amy said.

Knuckles looked a little confused. "So who are you?" he asked.

Miserie looked over at him. Her green eye glinted. "…Hi!" she said, suddenly energetic. "I'm Miserie! Who are you?"

"I'm Knuckles." Knuckles said. He stared at her for a second. "Why do you have that over your eye?"

"My…oh. Uhm…" She smiled. "It's nothing big."

"Hmm." Knuckles said. He gave Amy a long stare.

As the four started talking, the moon rose higher above their heads. The fire died out and soon there was nothing left but smoldering ashes.

"…Is it really that big?" Miserie asked. She loved hearing about the Master Emerald. Knuckles, who understood it, had been telling her all about the Emerald.

"Yeah, it's really that big." Knuckles said.

"Wow!" Miserie squealed. "I want to see it!"

"Maybe after all of this is ov" Knuckles started to say when an explosion rattled the four onto their haunches.

"What the HELL!" Shadow cursed.

"Owwww!" Amy cried.

"Eeh?" Miserie said softly.

Knuckles had already fallen face first into still hot ashes. "Ahh! Hothothothothothotho"

"Oh my GOD, the forest! It's on fire!" Amy cried.

"Look!" Miserie pointed. Shadow looked. There was a figure in the fire!

"thothothothothothothot" Knuckles kept yelling. Shadow threw a rock at him.

As a burning tree fell in front of Amy, she screamed, "WAHHH! KILL HIM!"

Shadow got up to go help Amy, when he saw a tree falling where Miserie was. He quickly got her out of the way. Another explosion and the figure disappeared. Miserie shrilly shrieked, "NOOO! AMY! LOOK OUT!"

Above Amy's head was a third explosion. Shadow tossed Miserie onto the ship. "Stay there!" He told her.

"but Shadow"

"Stay!" He said firmly. He turned around to find Amy, scrambling around in the dirt. "Amy!" He yelled.

"Shadow!" Amy cried, sounding scared. There was a fourth explosion, sending Shadow reeling to his feet.

"What the hell!" He said angrily. He looked into the sky. He couldn't believe his eyes.

Knuckles had picked up Amy and bumped into Shadow on his way to the ship. "What are you- Oh my frickin GOD, what the hell are those!"

Above their heads was a bizarre display of lights, and dancing dizzily with them were planes that swerved and dove at a whim. The lights turned out to be some sort of explosive, and they blinked bright red before exploding into a wave of hell-like fire.

"Shadow!" Miserie called from the Ship. "hurry! The Doctor says we can leave soon!"

"My walkie-talkie!" Knuckles cried. "Where is it!"

"We can't stay and look for it!" Amy screamed at him from his arms. "It's probably broken by now!"

"She has a point." Shadow said.

"Hurry!" Miserie screeched.

Shadow took one last look at the light show. "Let's go." He said to Knuckles, who was looking for his walkie-talkie.

"Okay!" Knuckles and Amy chorused.

As they all got aboard the ship, Miserie grabbed onto Shadow's good arm.

"What are we gonna do?" she cried. Her lip started trembling. "We're so lost! Where are we gonna go?"

"Don't cry!" Shadow said. "We'll… figure out something…"


	34. File 7 Entry 4 Blast Away

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I kind of messed up my story, but what the heck! Ahahahahaha…I'll have to make it better now! Reviewers, thanks sooo much! I'm too lazy to mention names, and I haven't updated my settings for a lonnnng time. Eh. I'm just so stupid sometimes. but, I can Answer your question,ersi Fanel (Hey, I think...I spelled it wrong...)! Miserie is younger than Shadow, about Tails' age. But her mind is totally warped. Her brain functions like a six year olds would. So she doesn't love Shadow like Amy loves Sonic, she loves him like a little kid would love their best friend- just like an older brother. That's why she's always so sweet to him.

_File 7 Bright Smile_

_Entry 4 Blast Away_

* * *

Shadow watched Knuckles pace the ship. "This is so wrong…" He was muttering. 

Amy was watching him, leaning on her hammer. "Knuckles, are you okay?" she asked.

"AM I OKAY!" He yelled. "I'M IN COHORTS WITH EGGMAN, NO, I'M NOT OKAY!"

"It's not like he's doing anything WRONG. His ship was already almost destroyed." Amy said. "And he's so weak, we could beat anything he could possibly make instantly."

Miserie looked at Knuckles, and then at Amy. "Shadow?" she asked. She wasn't looking at him.

Shadow looked at her. She was sitting on the floor, making something with spare pieces she had found while the Doctor was trying to rev up the engine, which he was still doing. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Shadow, why don't they like…the doctor?" Miserie asked. "Is it because he calls them stupid?"

"…I don't know." Shadow replied.

"Why does anyone not like someone?" Miserie asked. "I don't understand…" She looked up at him, holding a spherical item in her hands.

Shadow bent down to look at what she was making. "What's this?" He asked her.

"A prototype eyeball!" She said. She pointed to her eye. "This one will fit in my eye socket. And I'll be able to scan stuff and see infrared lasers, and, oh! I want to be able to see through things too! It's so much fun making things!"

Shadow smiled. "Oh yeah…" He said. Miserie went back to working.

The ship lurched.

"The ship is moving!" Amy gasped. She put her hammer away. "Yes! Here I come, Sonic!"

"…If he doesn't shoot him down first.." Knuckles said.

"Oh shut it, Knuckles. I told you, we can beat him!" Amy scolded.

"Alright, Alright!" Knuckles said. "Jeez, Amy."

Amy grinned.

Miserie asked, "What were all the explosions?"

"…I don't know." Shadow said. "They were like lights, moving so fast. They turned red before they blew up. I guess it was some sort of missile."

"Like a super missile!" Miserie said. She looked at her eye. "Super missiles are really powerful! They're supposed to be real hard to make though. If you could make a bundle of missiles that don't blow up even while contacting each other, that's awesome!"

"…So are you saying you want to learn how to do that?" Shadow asked. Miserie looked up at him.

"Oh, no way!" She said, grinning. "Then I'd have to leave you for a long time. Right? I don't want to be by myself. That would be scary. I like being with you."

"…" Shadow smiled. "Alright." He said. He sat down next to Miserie, sighing. They watched Amy and Knuckles argue over what would happen when Sonic showed up.

"Who's Sonic?" Miserie whispered to Shadow.

Shadow shrugged. He could only sum up the name in his head, there was no picture that went along with the name.

"I mean, he did that on ARK." Amy said.

"So? What if he's already lost the Emeralds? How would he do it then?" Knuckles said. "Besides, Shadow can do it better, and you know it. He did it for really long distances. Sonic could only do it for a short distance."

"But Sonic had a fake Emerald that time!"

"What are you talking about? Chaos Control?" Shadow asked.

"Well, yeah!" Amy said. "Can't you land ANYWHERE you want?"

"…Well, basically, yeah." Shadow said. "Anywhere you can"

The ship rocked back and forth, throwing Knuckles onto his face again. Amy was thrown into Shadow's lap, and both forces pushed him into a wall. Miserie was the only one who hadn't been fazed, she was already up and running.

"It's a missile! We've been hit!" She cried, running in circles around Knuckles.

"What!" Amy asked, sitting up.

"Will you get off me?" Shadow asked. He tried to push Amy off, but she wouldn't budge.

"If we got hit, that means we're STUCK!" Amy cried. She turned around and started shaking Shadow by his shoulders. "Have you any CLUE what that means!"

"S-St-St-St-To-To-To-To-Op-Op-Op-Op- It-It-It-It!" Shadow said.

"Wah! We're going down!" Miserie cried. She fell down dizzy. "Whoah…"

Knuckles got up. "Always on my face, I swear…" he muttered. The ship slammed into the ground and he went sprawling on his face again.

Miserie was added to the list of people in Shadow's lap.

"Will you two GET OFF?" Shadow asked.

Amy got up with Miserie, who fell over at one of the ship's next spasms.

"What's going on?" Miserie asked. She started sliding. "It's tilted! Ohhh noooo!" she cried.

She slid into Knuckles and they tumbled to a wall on the on the other side.

Shadow watched Amy start sliding too. "…"

"The door, it's right behind you, Shadow! Open the…! Sonic!" Amy cried.

Shadow blinked. "Open the Sonic." He repeated slowly.

"Shadow?" Shadow heard someone calling his name. He turned around.

"…?" Shadow blinked at a blue hedgehog with green eyes, staring at him as if he wasn't real.

"…You're…Alive?"


	35. File 7 Entry 5 Alive

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: You know what? I wonder why we don't know much about our brains. You know how people can tell by your brain waves whether you're psycho or not? How come no one knows what's REALLY going on? I'm possessed with finding out… Anyway, all my love to my reviewers…yes, that's right, I'm too lazy to put your names in…Darn my laziness… However, I still love you all, and I'm updating my lovely setting (finally) so you'll see your name there shortly! I'm afraid to have a long Bio, though… (cries)

_File 7 Bright Smile_

_Entry 5 Alive_

* * *

Shadow blinked. "Who are you again?" he asked.

The blue hedgehog gaped. "You don't remember?" He asked. He looked at Amy. "He doesn't remember?"

"No." Shadow crossed his arms. "Why?"

"…It's him!" Said another voice. There was a fox. He had two tails, long fur and was all brownish. "He's the one who landed from ARK on our island!"

"…Are you here to take Miserie?" Shadow asked. He looked over at Miserie, who had pulled herself into a standing position and was making her way over to Amy. Then he looked back at the fox. "…Well?"

The fox shook his head. "No. I want…" He paused, looking at Shadow. "I want to apologize, because…I know what you went through. I'm sorry. I should have stopped it."

Shadow looked at the fox questioningly.

"It's okay!" Miserie said. Both Sonic and the fox looked at her. Shadow looked too. Amy was helping her and Knuckles to get up and at least closer to the door. "It's okay because we made it through. That's all that matters, right?" She smiled and turned around to help Amy pull Knuckles to his feet.

"…You're right." The fox said. He smiled. "My name is Talon. I'm a Cadet on the Delta Flying Force on Freedom."

"I'm Miserie." She said. "Or did I tell you that? I'm from ARK, yes."

"…From Ark?" Sonic said.

Amy, Knuckles, and Miserie made their way to the door. Amy said, "Yeah, she's with Shadow."

"…With Shadow, huh." Sonic said. He sounded confused.

Shadow turned back to Sonic. "So what are you doing here?" He asked.

"…I came to save Knuckles. And Amy." Sonic said. "With Tails. What are you doing on Earth?"

Shadow shrugged.

Talon looked between both of them. "You two look so alike. Are you twins?"

"…No." Sonic said. He glanced at Shadow. "…Or maybe we are."

"Or maybe you could just leave it at no. The only thing alike about us is that we're hedgehogs." Shadow said. "And that's it."

"…but…" Sonic said, and Amy interrupted him.

"Where's Eggman?" She screamed.

"…What?" Shadow asked. He looked around at Amy, who was pointing at the cockpit.

"He's GONE! Like he wasn't here befo"

"I KNEW we shouldn't have trusted Eggman!" Knuckles pointed at her. "You didn't wanna believe me either!"

Shadow sighed. "Let's get outta here."

"We don't have room on the Tornado for everyone…" Talon said, softly.

"…I'm not coming with you." Shadow said.

"Whaddya mean, you're not coming with us!" Sonic asked. "Yeah, you are!"

"No, I'm not." Shadow said.

"Yeah, you are!" Sonic grinned. "Because we'll need your help, Shadow!"

Miserie said, "…If we don't get out of here soon, we'll be buried." She pointed at the controls. "It's rigged." She explained. "In a few seconds, we'll be three feet under."

"WHAT?" Amy screeched. "How do we stop it?"

"…That's a really good question." Miserie said. "But I don't think we can stop it." She murmured. "It looks like our Doctor was a phony."

"Whaddarewegonnadoooo?" Amy cried.

"…Chaos Control." Sonic grinned.


	36. File 8 Entry 1 Meeting Miserie

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: My auntie had a baby and he's sooo cute! You know how people fawn over babies and stuff? Well, I can see why! He's so adorable, and he has the tiniest hands! He's got long fingers though, so we think he'll play basketball. But I really hope he's a good kid, because he's so adorable and it is my aunt and uncle and I love them a whole lot. Yeah. This one's for my cousin!

by the way...I'm really lazy and spent two weeks on vacation. And what do I forget at home? You got it, my laptop. Please don't shoot me. I'll go cry now, honest.

_File 8 Angel Island; The Lost Sanctuary_

_Entry 1 Meeting Misery_

* * *

Tails waited by his plane for Sonic and Talon to return with Knuckles and Amy. He wasn't sure who else was there, but he had to keep an eye out for the fleet that they had only just escaped. If they caught Sonic, they would kill him!

"Tails!" Tails heard Talon yelling.

"Talon?" Tails turned around quickly. Talon was holding onto another fox's hand, running at him like there was no tomorrow.

"Tails! We barely got away with our lives!" Talon cried, skidding up to him. "Sonic has two chaos emeralds!"

"…Well, yeah. We took four before we left. I asked Knuckles to." Tails looked at the other fox, who was dressed in overalls and had a patch over her left eye. Her right eye was a startling green. She was almost pitch black...and, Tails thought to himself, feeling ashamed, she was pretty cute. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm…" The fox hesitated.

"Her name is Miserie." Talon supplied. "She's from Space Colony ARK."

"Really?" Tails asked. "I didn't see you when I was there." He looked at Miserie, who was fidgeting. "What's wrong?" He asked, watching her curiously.

"…They made me leave." Miserie said. She closed her eye. "Shadow and Amy and Knuckles…They said they'd get out and that I should leave."

"Shadow?" Tails looked at Talon. Talon shrugged.

"There was a black and red hedgehog there, he looked like Sonic. They called him Shadow. Sonic was surprised to see him too." Talon said.

"Shadow's ALIVE!" Tails asked. Miserie nodded.

"Of course he's alive…" Miserie paused again. "But we were with the Doctor, and"

"The Doctor?" Tails asked. "Doctor Robotnik?"

"Yes, we were with him. We just found him, and he was injured. But he disappeared." Miserie said. "I figured it out. It was a robot that we were helping."

"…You teamed up with Eggman." Tails said.

Miserie shook her head. "Amy wanted to kill him. But I told her not to because he was injured. Besides we were stuck, and not too far away from the floating island."

"She's right." Talon added. "Freedom isn't far away. We had sent a couple soldiers after them after they took the pink hedgehog from us."

"Amy? What was Amy doing on Freedom?" Tails asked.

"They must have captured her." Miserie concluded. She looked at her hands. "I don't understand why, but they don't like hedgehogs there."

Talon sighed. "It's a long story."

Tails nodded. "So you saved Amy?"

"Well, Shadow did too. We protected her." Miserie wagged her tails. "Amy is really nice."

Tails smiled. "Yeah." He agreed.

Miserie pointed at her eye. "That's how I lost my eye."

Both Tails and Talon frowned. "What?" Talon asked.

"…We were walking, and Shadow heard something in the bushes. It was a solder, chasing us! Shadow told Amy to move, but she was too scared. So I pushed her out of the way, and my eye…"

"Oh my god…" Talon said. He took Miserie's hand. "I'm so sorry. I'm really sorry." He said. "Please forgive my people."

Tails stood there, bewildered. This girl…She didn't even know Amy, who probably suspected Shadow of something the whole time…This girl had saved Amy and even though it cost her an eye, she was still smiling…she even called Amy nice!

"It's okay." Miserie told Talon. She reached into one of her pockets, producing a spherical object. "I'm making a new eye, a bionic one!" She exclaimed. "This is just made of spare parts though."

Tails took it from her. "This is really good." He said, turning it around in his hand. "But it won't fit in your eye. I'll help you make one in my lab." He promised.

Miserie widened her eyes. "Really?" she cried. "Amy was right! You are really nice! Thank you!" She said, happily. She wagged her tails again. "And a lab! I want to see a lab!"

Tails smiled, and he looked at Talon. "so do you know what Sonic and Shadow are up to?"

"No." Talon shook his head. He was still holding Miserie's hand, clutching at it as if when he left go she'd run away. "They told me to take Miserie away as fast as possible."

"I know what they're doing." Miserie said. "Sonic had two Emeralds. They said that they were going to use Chaos Control." Miserie paused. "But I don't know where to. Shadow said that if they used the Emeralds to warp through space, they could end up anywhere they wanted."

"Yeah, they can." Tails said. He looked at Talon, about to ask him a question, when Miserie interrupted.

"But that doesn't make sense." Miserie said.

"…It doesn't?" Talon asked.

Miserie nodded, thoughful. "If they could teleport anywhere without restriction…" She murmured. "It could only be when the wavelengths are different." She nodded. "If they were different wavelengths they could, right?" She looked at Tails. "Because right now, they're in the dormant state, where they're on the same wavelength of the Master Emerald. Which means that they've got a restriction. Doesn't the Master Emerald have a restriction of it's own?"

Tails nodded. "Yeah, it's powers can't be used when it's broken up. That's all though. Or at least, all I know about."

"…Yeah, that's it. See, when the Chaos Emeralds are synchronized with the Master Emerald, then they are like pieces of the Master Emerald. Which means that they have a restiction. Unless all seven are together, you can't teleport anywhere you want. There has to be a restricion, just like how it is when all the Emeralds are together."

"What do you mean? The giant Chaos Control that brought us all here?" Tails asked.

"…What do you mean?" Talon asked.

"Well." Tails said. "It's just a theory, but we could have been brought here by a super powerful chaos control."

"What's chaos control?" Talon asked.

"When all the Emeralds are together without the same wavelength, they cause a response like…friction. It's always there unless you make the wavelengths the same." Miserie said. "It can happen between any amount of the Emeralds."

"How can Sonic and Shadow use the Chaos Control then?" Talon asked.

"I don't know." Tails said. He looked at Miserie. "Any idea?"

"I'm not sure either. It's a mystery." Miserie said.

"You know a lot about the Emeralds." Talon said Miserie. "For someone who comes from Ark, I wouldn't expect you to know anything about them."

Tails agreed. "I mean, you came up with a pretty difficult theory."

Miserie nodded. "I don't know how I know it." She said. "I wasn't supposed to."

"What?" Tails asked, but Talon interuptted.

"Wait! If Shadow and Sonic don't know about this, they could be sinking in some ocean! We have to hurry!"

"You're right!" Miserie cried. "But how will we find them?"

Tails grinned. "Leave it to me! The Tornado has two Chaos Emeralds in it for unlimited energy! One emerald could give it unlimited energy by itself, but I wanted to test out this new engine anyway. But I can use one to track the other two!"

"A tracker? Would that work?" Talon asked.

"Well, since all the wavelengths are the same, it should be no problem!" Tails nodded.

"Alright. But…We want to stay out of the clouds. The fleet is heading towards the Sanctuary." Talon said. He gripped Miserie's hand. "We don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Angel Island? Why? They have another Emerald?" Tails asked.

"Yes, we had one." Talon said.

"If we find Sonic and Shadow, we could probably help them get there in time!" Tails said.

"Okay!" Miserie cried. "Let's go!"


	37. File 8 Entry 2 The Search

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: This is what I say to all those darned popups! Bleahhhhhh!

File 8 Angel Island; The Lost Sanctuary

_Entry 2 The Search_

* * *

Tails looked back again, worried for Miserie. In the air above the water, Tails couldn't help but worry over the over curious space age fox. He watched Talon struggle with her as she nearly killed herself for the fourth time.

"I told you, that's water!" Talon yelled.

Tails couldn't hear Miserie. He turned forward again and began to pilot again.

He tried to control his feelings, because he felt stuffed up to the top with emotion. He could feel a deep depression, probably because he left his mother. He didn't want to…but they were gonna kill Sonic, and… But then he thought about Sonic and he felt worried. He wasn't sure if Sonic was okay. What if he was drowning? What would they do then? Could Shadow swim? Probably not. Shadow brought up feelings of regret, because Tails felt bad for always associating him with evil when he was kind enough to save Amy and Miserie. Miserie… Tails didn't know what he felt for Miserie. It was a feeling he was embarrassed about. He didn't want anyone to know. He didn't want to think about it, and he squeezed his eyes shut for a second, as if that would stop him from thinking about it. Tails wasn't sure how he could put his feelings into words or into work. He was mad just thinking about it. Did Miserie make him mad, maybe?

Tails shook his head and said aloud, "No way."

"No way what?" He turned at Miserie's voice. She was sitting behind him, watching him pilot.

"…Nothing." Tails said, dismissively. "How's the ride back there?"

"I don't know." Miserie said. she shook her head. "Talon is a little scary. He keeps apologizing. I don't understand…It can't be changed now." She told him.

"He feels bad." Tails told her. "It's because he feels like it's his fault you lost your eye." He faced forward again. "I'd feel bad too."

"…but I don't feel bad. I did at first. I felt like it was my fault, but…It's no one's fault. That's what Shadow said. He said we have to keep moving on." Miserie said. "He probably meant that a different way though."

Tails smiled. "Yeah." He agreed.

"Hey Tails…" She said, thoughtfully.

Tails responded with a "Hmm?"

"I was thinking about toys before." She said. "Do you think…" she hesitated. "Do you think that a toy could do the things that you do?"

"Like what kind of toy?" Tails looked at the Chaos Emerald radar he had quickly built at the forest.

"I don't know…Like, if I was a toy, would you expect me to do the things I do?"

Tails looked back at her. "Why are you thinking like that?" He asked, kindly. "You're normal." He looked back forward again. He felt that strange feeling…

"But that's not the question…" Miserie said. "I'm saying if I was a toy, would you expect me to be…me?" She sounded upset.

Tails sighed. "That's kinda hard to say. I mean, you don't seem like a toy. You seem like a perfectly normal…girl." He said. "If you were a toy, I don't think you'd change. You'd have to be pretty high tech though."

"High tech…" She nodded. "I hope you're right. Maybe I am just an ordinary girl."

A series of beeps went off. "Looks like we've found one emerald!" Tails said.

"Should I tell Talon?" Miserie asked. Tails turned to look back at her.

"…Uhm I guess." Tails said. He felt empty when she left. He didn't know why. Tails sighed and lowered the plane. They were just above the water, and Tails heard a splash as Talon, the only swimmer of the group, left the plane.

Miserie called, "Hey, Talon's way deep under!"

"I can't hover here long," Tails called back. "We'll have to circle around!"

"He's coming back!" Miserie called back. "How much time do we have?"

"Just enough," Tails said. He watched Miserie worry over Talon in the water.

Talon's head popped up. He lugged Shadow and Amy onto the back of the Tornado. "They're safe! They just teleported!" He said. Miserie helped a choking Amy and Shadow onto the Tornado."

"What" Amy went into a fit of spluttering coughs.

"Oh! What do we do, Talon?" Miserie asked, as Shadow erupted into a coughing fit. She helped him on board too.

Talon leaned on Miserie as if she was married to him. "I…" he gasped.

"We've still got to find Sonic!" Tails called.

"Right!" Miserie said.

Tails thought about Amy and Shadow. Suddenly, they were everywhere together. Was Amy in love with Shadow too? Tails wondered what love felt like.

Maybe that was his weird feeling? It couldn't be. He loved a lot of things! Tails thought about it. He loved living with Amy and Sonic…He loved his lab…He loved lots of stuff, right?

But this must have been the first time he loved a person… he could understand why he loved her. She was funny, smart, and nice. There wasn't a reason he shouldn't like her. In fact, they had a whole lot in common. So it could be fate!

Tails shook off that last thought. He could tell Miserie wasn't as interested in him. She was so tuned into to everything else. She knew everything, but she didn't know a thing at all.

It wasn't time to worry about that. Because he still had to find Sonic. When he found Sonic, everything would make sense. Sonic could make sense of it.

Couldn't he?


	38. File 8 Entry 3 Gentle Breeze

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: awww, I'm lazy…

_File 8 Angel Island; The Lost Sanctuary_

_Entry 3 Gentle Breeze_

* * *

Tails smiled as he listened to Miserie. She was sitting behind him, telling him about things. Shadow and Amy and Talon were balanced on the back of the plane, but there was no room for Miserie. She told him she didn't mind, because she liked talking to him. Tails didn't know what he could say to her.

"Tails?" She asked. He snapped out of his moment and looked back at her.

"Huh?" He asked.

She smiled. "I asked you a question." She said. "I asked you if you knew about your past."

"…I don't know very much about it." He said, honestly. "I grew up with Sonic, but I don't know about my family." He watched her face go immediately sad, and he said, "but it's okay. Living with Sonic and Amy is fun."

She didn't say anything, and he faced forward again. Finally she said, "Do you know who Miles is?"

"I'm Miles. My nickname is Tails. How did you know my name?" He asked.

"…I met this lady." She started. "She said that I should know you. She wants you to go back."

Tails blinked. "What?"

"She misses you," Miserie continued, in the same tone. "She wants you to go home."

"…my mother?" Tails asked. He looked uncomfortably at his radar. No sign of Sonic yet.

"Your mother." Miserie agreed.

"…" Tails didn't want to talk about it anymore. Miserie understood. She sighed.

"How come you have a lab?" She asked. Tails smiled.

"You seem really interested." He said.

"Uh-huh!" He could hear her excited feelings in her voice. "I wish I had a lab too. I don't think I know anyone with a lab other than you."

"Well, I made a lab because I build my planes and stuff there." Tails said. "I also like to do experiments and stuff. Maybe you can do one with me sometime?" he asked.

"Okay!" Miserie agreed without second thought. She sounded so happy about it. "I'm glad you're my friend, Tails, you're so nice!"

He smiled. He liked that she trusted him so much. She wasn't talking now, because she was probably thinking about the lab and the experiments. Again, he checked the radar. A little yellow dot! It had to be Sonic!

"Miserie, I found Sonic!" He said, excitedly.

"You did?" She asked. "I'll tell Talon." She paused. "Talon." She repeated.

Tails looked at her. She looked confused. She was already standing, but she looked like she was going to sit down again. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't trust Talon." Miserie said, slowly. "He's not…why is it that he keeps treating me so different. It's not like I'm from outer space. No. Scratch that. I am from outer space."

Tails smiled at that, but he said, "You mean how he's always holding your hand, or…?"

Miserie paused. "That." She said. "And he's always apologizing. Or touching my eyepatch. I don't like that. But I don't want to say anything, because he won't like me." She paused. "Not that I like him all that much right now, but…" She looked at Tails.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, say so. Tell him. Otherwise, he'll keep doing it." Tails said. He smiled. "And Shadow's back there, so he'll probably shut Talon up."

Miserie smiled back. "You're right." She said. "I'll tell him about Sonic now." She slowly made her way to the tail of the ship.

Tails turned around and looked at his radar. During that time, he had strayed away from Sonic's general area. He gently tilted the plane and started his decent, heading for Sonic.

"Will you cut that out?" He heard Shadow say. Talon must have started to apologize again.

"What?" Talon asked.

"Stop telling her that. She doesn't care." Shadow said. Tails smiled. Leave it to Shadow to put words in people's mouths.

"That's mean, Shadow! I think it's cute." Amy said.

"You think everything's cute." Shadow told her. "Miserie, will you tell him to shut up?"

"Uhm… Shut up?" Tails heard Miserie say.

"You don't have to do what he says, Miserie." Talon said. "You're your own fox."

"Huh?" Miserie asked.

"It means that you can do what you want." Amy said.

"Oh." Miserie said.

"Look." Shadow said. "She can do what she wants, but you can't. Now shut up."

"I can do what I want!" Talon said, indignantly.

"Can't we all just get along?" Amy asked.

"Not with him here!" Talon said, angrily.

"Uhm, guys." Miserie said.

"Yeah, Miserie?" Talon asked.

"…Well, uhm, see Tails found Sonic, so"

"He did!" Talon cried.

"Can you let go of my hands?" Miserie asked.

"Uhm, of course!" Talon sounded rejected.

"Idiot." Shadow said.

"SHADOW!" Amy screamed.

"What?" Shadow asked.

"Don't be mean. He's just a kid."

"So what are you, his grandma?"

"You stupid hedgehog!"

"See, even your girlfriend agrees with me!" Talon said.

"She's not my girlfriend." Shadow said.

"I'm not HIS girlfriend!" Amy cried. "I'm devoted to Sonic!"

Shadow sighed. "Stupid moron. Look what you started."

"Who's stupid?" Talon asked. "Huh? Who's stupid?"

Tails laughed into his hand. He couldn't help it. It was as if they knew each other for a long time. He could see Sonic, waving up at him on an island below. "Guys!" He called. "We're here! We're going to land!"

"Finally!" Amy called back.

"Who's stupid, you crazy hedgehog?" Talon screamed.

"You." Shadow said.

"You eat your own turds!" Talon said.

"You drink your own piss." Shadow said calmly.

"You have mental issues!"

"You have AIDS."

"You're just a ball of spines!"

"You're just a piece of fox crap."

"You had to hide in ARK because you're so ugly!"

"You have women's fur."

"You…You suck!"

"You cried at the Muppet's Christmas Carol."

"I hated that movie!"

"I'm sure you did."

"Why you…Lameass!"

"Crybaby."

"Llama!"

"Faggot."

"Poo face!"

"Baka."

"Uhm…uh…"

"Loser…"

"Hey! I didn't say anything yet!"

"Moron."

"Hey!"

"Pissoff."

"Arrgh!"

"Wah! Hurry up and land!" Miserie cried.

"What kind of insult is POO FACE?" Amy asked. "You suck!"

"I couldn't think of anything else!" Talon cried.

"What would you call him, Amy?" Miserie asked, suddenly interested.

"Hmm…" Amy said. "Pervert."

"What!" Talon asked.

"Nothing personal!" Amy said, grinning.

"You called me a pervert and you say it's nothing personal!"

"Yeah…" Amy said.

"What's a pervert?" Miserie asked innocently.

"You don't wanna know." Amy said.

"Anyway! Don't think you can escape from our man to man argument!" Talon said.

"Man to man?" Shadow asked. "We're missing a man. Are you here to take his place?"

"I am a man!"

"You're a pervert."

"What! I'll make you eat those words!"

"Uh-huh." Shadow sounded bored.

"Yeah, you're scared now!"

"Uh-huh." Shadow said, still bored.

"Pee face!"

"That's no better than poo face!" Amy laughed.

"Hermaphrodite."

"What's you call me, you mangy hedgehog?"

"A hermaphrodite, you stupid excuse for a fox." Shadow said. "Once again, for the hearing impaired: A. HER. MA. PHRO. DITE. YOU. STUPID. EXCUSE. FOR. A. FOX."

Tails smiled as Talon and Shadow kept arguing. He got ready for a crash landing. Since Sonic was there, Sonic would help him with his feelings…right?


	39. File 8 Entry 4 Cautious Path

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I was reading a story when I realized I never ever review until the end of the story! I want to stab myself for that sometimes, but I do read the whole thing. I'm a pretty fast reader.

I love you all so much! (So, you'll review more right? I'm kidding, I'm kidding!)

I have no sense of humor whatsoever…It's so sad. My stories are bland. Oh, but I'm good at drama! Somewhat! Yay!

I'm sorry! I spent a while doing project upon project and only go one entry finished! I'm so sowwie….weh! So please don't stab me!

_File 8 Angel Island; The lost Sanctuary_

_Entry 4 Cautious Path

* * *

_

Tails felt the plane jerk underneath them as he landed.

"… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Amy laughed loudly. Tails whirled around.

Shadow was shaking his head off the side of the ship, where Talon had fallen off. He had dragged Miserie with him, but she must have kicked him and he was face down in the sand.

"I'm so sorry… hahaha… Talon, you're clumsy!" Amy said, grinning.

"And stupid." Shadow said, jumping off the plane. He kicked up some dust into Talon's face. Tails didn't know if was accidentally or on purpose, but he was sure if Shadow wanted to hurt Talon he would have landed on him.

"That's mean, Shadow!" Miserie said, from where she was sitting on the ground. "Talon, can you hear me?"

"Guys!" Sonic grinned at all of them, and Tails turned to look at Sonic.

"Hey Sonic!" He said happily.

"How about now, Talon? Huh?" Miserie paused, then walked around the side of the ship. "Tails, I think Talon is dead."

"He's WHAT?" Sonic asked.

"He's fine." Shadow said. He glared at Knuckles, who was glaring right back at Shadow form where he was sitting in the sand.

"SONIC!" Amy cried, dashing at Sonic.

"Uhm, Amy…" Sonic started, but he had already started running away.

Tails sighed. This group was a big family, He decided.

"Well…" Knuckles finally said. "What are we gonna do?"

"Wha…What do you mean?" Tails asked.

Shadow sighed. "About the Master Emerald."

Tails thought. He looked out into the enchanting glistening blue of the sea and the sky blue of the sky dotted with big white clouds, but he said nothing.

Miserie watched Amy and Sonic running around for the thirtieth time. "What's that emotion?" She asked suddenly, and Shadow, Knuckles and Tails stared at her.

"What emotion?" Knuckles asked.

"…That one." She pointed at Sonic and Amy. "What's that emotion?"

Tails looked at Sonic and Amy.

"Friendship?" Knuckles finally said.

"Hatred in one party and love in the other." Shadow said. Miserie glanced at him sideways.

"It's probably love." Tails said, shaking his head.

"Is there something I'm missing here?" Knuckles asked. "Sonic hates Amy chasing him."

"…I don't think so. He provokes her all the time. He likes it." Tails said.

"amy is funny." Miserie said. "I don't understand her. I don't really understand." She looked at Tails. "Do you?"

"What?" Tails asked.

"Do you understand Amy?" Miserie asked.

"Not…really."

"Hmm…" Miserie said. "Knuckles, do you?"

"Nope."

"What about you, Shadow?"

Shadow shook his head.

Miserie looked at Sonic. "does anyone understand Sonic?"

"Couldn't if we tried," Knuckles summed up for the group. He walked away to inspect Talon, and Shadow walked off towards the water. For a little while, as Tails climbed out of his plane, there was complete silence.

"…So I can't find out what that emotion is…" Miserie said, sounding sad.

"What?" Tails asked.

She looked at him again. "When you understand someone, you know how they think. You know what they feel. It's funny how sometimes best friends really don't know each other. When you're best friends, it's not only about fun and games, it's about understanding. You know why they're sad. You know why they're happy. Their emotions are no secret anymore. That's a best friend."

Tails paused before saying, "Why do you want to know what the emotion is?"

"…" Miserie smiled. "It must be a good emotion." She said wistfully. She looked at Sonic and Amy. "I'd like to feel that way most of the time." She paused. "Instead of feel sad or lost. That's how I'd like to feel."

"Do you feel lost?"

"No, not usually. I guess I'm pretty happy. But still. I want to feel an emotion like that." Miserie paused, and then she laughed. "I'm so selfish."

Tails halfway smiled, but he didn't know where she was going with this conversation, and he didn't want her to immediately start crying.

"Tails, did you hear me?" Miserie asked.

"Sorry." He apologized. "I was just thinking…you're not selfish."

"Thanks." Miserie said. "I asked you if you were going to talk with Sonic. You seemed like you wanted to before."

"I was, but…" Tails looked over and saw Talon limping towards them. Knuckles grudgingly followed behind him.

"Miserie…" Talon said, weakly. Miserie looked worried.

"Yes, Talon?" She replied, taking her eyes off of Tails and turned towards Talon. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Talon said, slowly. Knuckles shook his head.

"He insists you saved him." Knuckles said.

"He tried to kill her," Shadow called.

"Stupid…" Talon started on a string of words, but he looked at Miserie in the middle of his all curse word sentence and stopped.

Miserie leaned over. "What does all that mean?" She asked Tails.

Tails grinned. "Nothing much." He told her. Miserie just nodded her head.

"So then, it's like 'pervert', right?" Miserie paused. "I thought there were people named pervert."

Nope, Talon IS a pervert, Tails thought, and Shadow said, to his surprise:

"Talon IS a pervert." Tails and Miserie turned and Shadow was walking towards them with a frown.

"But what's a pervert, Shadow?" Miserie asked.

"Someone like Talon. I mean, look at him. When ever you hear the word pervert, think Talon."

"Okay." Miserie agreed.

Tails laughed as Talon's eyes widened.

"but-but!" Talon stuttered.

"It's okay Talon." Miserie said. "We'll make sure you get better. Is being perverted a disease?"

Shadow said, "In Talon's case, he must have gotten it from his mom."

"You leave my mom out of this!" Talon said.

"Why?" Shadow asked.

"Your mama was so dumb, she failed a pregnancy test!" Talon said.

"Wow. You must think you're really smart." Shadow said. "Unfortunately, I don't have a mother, so say what you want. You're not making fun of anyone."

"how could you no have a mother?" Talon asked.

Knuckles sighed. "so have they been like this for a while?" he asked Miserie.

"What's a faggot?"

Knuckles nodded. "Yup."

Tails grinned and left to go break Amy off of Sonic.


	40. File 8 Entry 5 My Will

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: Ahhhhh it's so good to be backkkkk! Okay, I'm finishing file eight today!

I was notified via e-mail that I usually write one chapter little stories. I do, don't I? I like to let people's minds wander. That's one of the simple joys of life. Plus, I'm a horrible writer. I kid, I kid. The suspense is killing me too. Commence!

_File 8 Angel Island; The lost Sanctuary _

_Entry 5 My Will_

* * *

The group was sitting under the stars: Amy leaning on Sonic, who was poking the fire with a stick, Miserie drawing a picture in the sand, Knuckles glaring into the fire like a hawk, Talon glancing at everyone, Shadow silently watching Miserie, and Tails, drawing with his finger.

He was planning of course, the next move. He was worried about everything happening, mostly because half of it was his fault, or so he thought. The next few days would lead up to D-day, Day of Demise.

Of course, he could look at it a little happier, but Tails wasn't in a very good mood. He was in a dark mood right now, and he didn't want to take it out on anyone. It would be wrong to take out his anger on someone else.

Amy sighed. Knuckles and Talon looked up for a second, then back to wherever their eyes had previously been focused. Tails could see them out of the corner of his eye.

"Well," Miserie interrupted the silence, her cheerful mood making Tails look up. "I guess that's it then."

"What's it?" Sonic asked.

"Their plan." Miserie said. She looked at Tails. "You have two chaos emeralds. Sonic has one. And Shadow has one. We have a total of Four."

"Yeah, so?" Knuckles asked.

"They have three. So the previous plan has been ruined." She said. Talon nodded.

"Yeah, it's ruined. So what?" he asked.

"So they're coming for us now." Miserie said. "We'll have to do something."

"I knew it would happen, but I don't think they can find us easy." Sonic said.

Everyone looked at Talon, who shrugged. "The royal family of Freedom is the Prower family. Only direct relatives can get knowledge like that."

"The one time you could have been of use to us, you stupid fox…" Shadow said. He shook his head and said to the fire mostly, "So what'll we do?"

Tails said, "We could intercept them." When he got five odd looks and one glance that probably meant 'huh?' he explained further: "Say we intercepted them with the Chaos Emeralds on board. They would want to fight us, right?"

"Eh, yeah." Talon said.

"But I'm on the plane." Tails continued, "So they won't set us on fire. Right, Talon?"

"M'lady has always wanted to see you again." Talon responded. "She wouldn't kill you, me, or Miserie, but everyone else is as good as dead. I feel horrible for everyone except a certain someone…" Talon gave Shadow a futile glance.

"Yeah, whatever fox boy." Shadow said. "I'll use you as a shield when that happens. I think Earth would be that much better minus one lame ass excuse for a fox."

"You got somethin to say to me!" Talon rose his voice.

"For the hearing impaired…" Shadow began, but Tails interrupted.

"That's right!" He said happily.

Shadow looked at him strangely. "Tails, hearing impaired people don't hear. They're deaf. You're supposed to be smart…"

"No, no, using me as a shield." Tails said. "I'm your ticket out of this mess!"

"I think I'm thinking what you're thinking!" Talon said, grinning.

"I think you're thinking the perverted version of what he's thinking!" Shadow said. Miserie laughed.

"Hey buddy," Talon said, angrily.

"I'm not your buddy." Shadow interrupted.

"Listen"

"I'm NOT your buddy." Shadow interrupted again.

Talon's fist clenched, and Shadow grinned.

"Do you think it's a good idea to do that, Shadow?" Amy asked. "You're ticking him off."

"Ticking him off?" Miserie looked at Talon. "I don't hear anything."

"Not like that." Amy told her.

"that's it!" Talon said angrily. "I refuse to work with him!"

"fine, you're fired." Shadow said.

"Why you! You can't fire me! I quit!"

"But I fired you first." Shadow said, with a smirk.

"You did not!"

"Actually he did." Sonic grinned.

"Hey! You stay out of this!" Talon said.

"Anyway," Tails said to the rest of the group, "If we use me as a way to get past them, we can fight them on Angel Island. Or even better, steal the chaos emeralds they have."

"That could be dangerous." Amy said. She grinned. "But fun."

Sonic pulled his arm out of her grip for a third time. "Whaddya mean, fun?" He asked.

Amy grabbed his arm again.

"Well, your mama's so ugly…" Talon screamed.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't have a mother. Who are you making fun of? The capsule I was in for fifty years? Gimme a break." Shadow said.

"I'll make sure they kill you! It's things like YOU that give hedgehogs a bad name!" Talon said.

"It's things like YOU that make the fox race seem mentally retarded." Shadow told him.

Miserie gasped. "Talon, you're mentally retarded! I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" She paused. "Perhaps that's where his perverted nature is from!" She told Shadow.

"I told you Miserie, it's definitely from his mom." Shadow said, mock seriously.

"Leave my mother out of this!" Talon yelled.

"Why?" Shadow asked.

"Oooh, boy." Knuckles groaned. "Another session."

"I like these arguments." Amy said.

"I like my arm. A lot! Leggo!" Sonic yelped.

"Never!"

After a couple hours of arguing, fighting, and the eventual KO of Talon, the group agreed Tails' plan would be best.

"Then we're good to go!" Sonic freed himself for the one hundredth time.

"Yay! And we decided on our hundredth anniversary!" Amy cheered.

"What are you TALKING about?" Sonic asked, as Amy grinned happily.

"Are you sure you're okay with this, Tails?" Miserie asked. She looked upset. "Because it'll be dangerous. We have to pass them without a scratch for your plan to work."

"I know. I know." Tails told her. He smiled. "It's cool."

Miserie smiled. "Alright. Good." She said. Then she winced. "Ow." She said, turning around.

Talon had gotten out of his recent KO and was throwing rocks at Shadow, who was dodging them as easily as possible. Talon's face went from anger to sheer horror when Miserie looked at him. Sonic laughed.

"she's got a Shadow stare." Sonic said.

"I have a WHO?" Miserie looked at Sonic, her usual questioning glance.

"What you just did, it looked just like Shadow's." Amy told her. Then the whole group looked at Shadow.

"What?" he said.

"When'd you teach her to do that?" Knuckles asked.

"I don't teach anything." Shadow said.

"You don't have anything to teach, bub." Talon said.

"When you explain to me what kind of insult 'bub' is, I'll teach you something." Shadow told him. "Miserie can learn on her own. She doesn't need lessons."

"I'm kinda tired." Miserie said. She shook her head. "the firewood is running low."

"We should get some sleep. Right Sonic?" Amy asked.

"Looks like I'm up for guard duty!" Sonic said, getting up and dusting himself off.

Amy got up too. "No way are you leaving me here!"

"Wait, don't run!" Knuckles cried, but it was too late. Sonic and Amy had already disappeared and the group of five left by the fire were now siting around a pile of sand.

"Oh great." Knuckles said, sighing. "Here we go again."


	41. File 9 Entry 1 Date With Disaster

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: I'd love to talk to you guys online! So if you want to IM me, my AOL is TailsMiles02. TailsMiles01 is also me, but I use it to blackmail my friend Anna. (So don't write to that one!)And ittybittychaobaby is also me, but I only use that to blackmail my brother. (Eheh. Don't write to that one either!) Also, I think my e-mail is now disclosed, so you can write to me. So you better. I love e-mail! 3

_File 9 Ballad of A Fallen Angel_

_Entry 1 Date with Disaster_

* * *

Miserie kept an eye on Tails. He had her worried sick. He was going to be a decoy for the whole group. Even though she wanted to relax like the rest of the group, she had a feeling this would be the last time for anything to be this way. And she wanted to remember this. This…this was the best time of her life.

The best.

"Right Miserie?" Talon looked expectantly at Miserie.

"Uhm…" She said, smiling.

"Just say no." Shadow told her. "always say no to perverts."

"I'm not a pervert!"

"Shadow, don't make fun of him!" Miserie scolded. "he's mentally ill!"

"I'm not mentally ill!"

"It's okay to make fun of him." Shadow told her. "It's why he was born."

"I wasn't born to be a pervert!"

"What are you talking about?" Miserie asked Talon.

Amy laughed. "guys, shut up," She said. The rest of the group seemed so relaxed. Sonic was up front with Tails, directing Knuckles. Talon, Amy, and Shadow were sitting on the tail of the plane. Miserie was sitting there too.

'What do we do if they shoot!' Miserie thought. 'What if we die? What if the world explodes into a hundred million pieces!'

"I bet I can yell louder than you!" Talon taunted.

"What is this, Kindergarten?" Shadow said.

"You're saying that cause you're scared you'll lose."

"I'm saying that because you're a first grade moron."

"This is stupid." Amy said.

"Wait! I have a whole new list of insults!" Talon said.

"Here comes another episode of wasting time with Talon." Shadow said sarcastically.

"Uhm, okay. Your brother's so ugly"

"Don't have a brother."

"Your father's so stupid"

"If I don't have a mother, how in the hell would I have a father. You are one creepy faggot."

"Your grandma's so old"

"no mother, no father, no grandmother."

"Your sister then! Your sister's so fat, people when people walk around her, they know they've been around the world!" Talon said.

There was a long awkward silence.

"I win." Talon said smugly.

"I'm fat!" Miserie exclaimed. She widened her eyes at Amy. "I am? I'm fat?"

"Oh, Miserie, you're not fat!" Amy told her. She patted Miserie's hand. "Don't listen to him. He's being silly." Amy glared at him. "Shut up with the family jokes."

Talon stared at Miserie like she was something weird he picked out of his nose. "You're…his sister?" He said. He looked at Shadow. "no, no you aren't. Look, you're two different species!"

"So what?" Amy spat.

"You went a little to far there, Talon." Shadow said. Then he looked at Miserie. "you're not fat." He told her. "Now if you wanna see fat, there's this guy named Big, and HE is fat."

"I know, right?" Amy said, turning towards Shadow. "I told him he needed the Fatkins Diet (Taken from Foamy) but nooo, he didn't listen!"

Miserie looked at her hands. 'What if they're lying? What if I am fat?' she asked herself. 'I need to make sure. Maybe…maybe Tails would know.' She got up.

"Wait, Miserie!" Talon said. She glared at him, and he shrank back. Then she smiled.

"I'm gonna go see what Sonic and Tails are doing." She told him. Talon nodded.

Miserie walked over to where Sonic and Tails were talking. They didn't notice her at first.

"I guess…" Tails said.

"Just do it, Tails!" Sonic said. He sounded like a coach. "You can do it, buddy!"

Then Tails looked up into his mirror and saw Miserie. "Hey Miserie." He said.

Miserie smiled. "hi Sonic, hi Tails." She said. Then she frowned. "Am I fat?"

"Huh?" Sonic asked. "What kind of weird question is that?"

"you're not fat. Not even close." Tails said. He gave her a weird look. "why?"

"Talon called me fat."

"Isn't that because he's a pervert?" Sonic asked.

Tails laughed. "That and he's mentally ill."

Miserie grinned. "Thanks guys." She told them. "can I hang out up here for a while then?"

"Sure." Sonic said. "I'm going back anyway. Amy isn't talking about anything weird, right?"

"She was talking about diets." Miserie said. "And A big guy."

"why should I expect normal when talking about Amy?" Sonic asked. "See ya later."

"See ya," Tails said, and Miserie repeated him. Once Sonic was gone, Tails looked at Miserie.

"…hm?" She asked. He shook his head.

"Nothing, just…you look uneasy." He told her.

Miserie sighed. "I'm worried about you." She told him. He smiled.

"Still?" he asked. "I'll be fine."

"but there are so many bad possiblities! There aren't many good ones!" She told him.

"Miserie, you're looking at the bad side." Tails told her. He faced forward. "Look at the bright side of things."

"The bright side?" she asked.

"For example," Tails said, "If I gave you a glass with water, is it half full or half empty?"

"It's both." Miserie said. "It's both. If you say, it's half full, you're lying to yourself, because it's also half empty. And if you say it's half full, you're lying to yourself because it's half empty." She paused. "Or am I supposed to say something else?"

"Miserie, you're supposed to choose one!" Tails told her.

"I was?" she asked.

"Would you rather have a glass half full of water, or half empty?"

"I don't like this question. Life isn't something to be compared to a glass of water. Life has no formula. I can't say life is H2O. Life is random and unexpected. How would any of this have to do with all the dangerous possibilities there are in this mission we're undertaking?"

Tails smiled. "I like that about you, Miserie," he told her. "you're totally truthful."

"You do?" Miserie asked. "That's nice. Thank you."

"Tails, I see them!" Knuckles voice crackled in on a radio.

"Alright. You got to the Master Emerald on Angel Island. If you find the Chaos Emeralds let us know!" Tails said.

"Alright!" Knuckles said.

"It's beginning…" Miserie said. Tails looked at her.

"What's wrong? Are you still worried?"

Miserie sat down and looked at her hands. "but it's your mother you're up against." She said, suddenly.

"I know that." Tails said. "But I have to do what is right."

"But…Actions are not 'right' or 'wrong'." Miserie said. She paused. "Actions are done. It's what comes afterward that lets you know 'right' from 'wrong'."

Tails was silent. Miserie looked up at him. "Right?" she asked hopefully.

Finally Tails said, "You're amazing, Miserie."

"I'm just telling the truth."

"I like that quote…'Actions are not right or wrong. Actions are done. It's what comes afterward that lets you know right from wrong.'" Tails repeated dreamily. "You're smart, you know, Miserie."

"…Sometimes." Miserie nodded. "Sometimes."


	42. File 9 Entry 2 Wo Ai Ni

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I feel so horrible…my new story With Deadly Accuracy, It looks like it's a rip off of someone else's fic, and it isn't! And I feel so guilty. But I didn't copy! Awww…sometimes, story writing HURTS.

Anyway. Let me explain Miserie, Talon and Tails to you here. See, There's this funny love triangle going on here. Talon likes Miserie because she's nice and truthful and she doesn't make fun of him. All good reasons. And since most other girls (whom are foxes) like him, he figures she'll like him automatically. However, she doesn't, so he's trying extra hard. In Tails' situation, he likes Miserie's truthfulness and her timid nature. He also likes how she never really understands everything. He thinks it's cute. For Miserie, she likes Talon more over because of his looks, but since she's not like that, she also likes how he cares about how she feels, but she likes Tails better for being understanding. So Talon loses. Awwwh….

_File 9 Ballad Of A Fallen Angel_

_Entry 2 Wo Ai Ni_

Knuckles hadn't called in, and an hour had already passed. Before, Amy was laughing at Talon getting insulted, but the humorous time soon came to pass. The only sound was the whooshing of the air in the group's ears.

Miserie looked at Sonic and Shadow, who were staring each other down. She turned her gaze to Talon, who was meditating on something, and Amy, who was watching Sonic and Shadow, looking puzzled.

"What's wrong?" Tails asked suddenly. Miserie jumped.

"What?" She asked. She looked at Tails, who wasn't looking at her.

"It feels like you're nervous." He said. "Is that too weird for you?"

She nodded. "Yes. I mean, NO, not weird, but yes, I'm nervous." She paused. "It's too quiet. What happened to Knuckles?"

Tails sighed. "He said he's on the island, but there are guards there. Since he's the guardian of the Master Emerald, he feels partially responsible. He's beating the guards up." He paused. "That was an hour ago. I haven't a clue what's going on now."

"…And the Chaos Emeralds must be there." Miserie said. "Since the guards are there."

"Yeah. But now we've got to get past the big fleet." Tails said.

"Yes." Miserie looked back at Amy, who was looking into the sky. "…The fleet."

"According to Knuckles, they weren't that close before. But we should be closing in on them."

Miserie sighed. "This plan is a good one, but it's hasty. Tails, if we don't circle that fleet, we're in trouble."

He was silent. Finally he said, "I know."

Miserie looked into the clouds. So much could happen that would be wrong. If they didn't circle the fleet without being seen, then the plan would be dismissed. Plus, they had no backup plan and they had the rest of the Emeralds! If they were caught, the Emeralds belonged to Tails' mom.

"So…You're the second one." Tails said suddenly.

"Eh?" Miserie asked.

Tails looked at her. "don't be mad at me, okay?" he asked. Miserie nodded and he continued. "Before, we were fighting Shadow at ARK, and Rouge found out that there were two projects sent to Earth, two capsules." He faced forward.

"Rouge?" Miserie asked.

"She's a government agent. A Bat." Tails said. "That's not the point. No one knew what the other project was, or what it was made for. Shadow is the Ultimate Life form, who was made to carry out Professor Robotnik's evil scheme." Tails said.

"No." Miserie said.

Tails looked back at her for a second. "No?" he asked.

"Shadow wasn't created to destroy." Miserie said. "It's wrong."

"what was he made for?" Tails asked.

"I don't know. Purpose is all programming. It's what you do that describes your task. Shadow was once programmed to be Maria's best friend. And then, he was switched off to World Destroyer. I guess for him, it was the trait he liked best that took over. And I think his memory was erased when he was put into that mode, the one where he would carry out Professor's evil scheme." Miserie paused. "Purpose of creation is something that we never know. But the purpose of living is to either make life better, or eradicate it completely."

Tails hesitated. Then he asked, "Do you know your purpose?"

"I…" she paused. "I'm a toy. Made for Maria. A game."

"What?" Tails asked.

"I guess I've always known it. The purpose of my life is to solve puzzles, figure equations, throw things, hide, play. I was made to learn along with Maria. I don't know how long I've been asleep. I don't know who Maria is, anymore. But…I do know that was my purpose. Without Maria, I have no purpose."

"Why don't you make one up right now?" Tails asked. "Make up a purpose for you to live."

"Why?" Miserie asked. "Do you have a purpose?"

"For my friends, I have to live." Tails said. "They are my family. I mean, I've known Sonic since I was a kid. And Amy. Knuckles too." He paused. "If I died, what would happen?"

"…A purpose?" Miserie said slowly. "A purpose to live…"

The fleet was in their vision now. Miserie knew Tails was worried about this. She could feel it. She sighed. Tails looked at her. "What?" he asked.

"My purpose." She said. "My purpose is…" she hesitated. "My purpose is to protect you."

Tails smiled. "Do I need protection?" he asked.

Miserie looked at her hands. "I don't know." She said, truthfully. "But I can't let you go on…I can't let you die. For them. I won't." She looked at him. "alright?"

Tails smiled. "You know, Miserie, you're my friend too." He told her. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know." She said.

Tails curiously studied her face. "You're not telling me something." He concluded.

"…" Miserie couldn't tell him. So many rising emotions that shouldn't have been programmed into her. So many things she didn't want to process or know. "All of a sudden," she said, looking back at the group. "It's become so serious. This emotion…" She paused. "This emotion is afraid."

"What?" Tails asked.

"We're afraid, aren't we…?" Miserie looked at Tails. "Aren't we?"

"Miserie…" Tails turned around to face forwards. "…Would you hate me if I lied to you?"

"No." she replied. "Why?"

"No reason." He told her. But he wouldn't look at her. "Miserie, I have to tell you something."

"What?"

"Your purpose in life is to protect me, right?" He asked.

"Yes."

"I lied when I told you mine. I told you it was to stay alive for my friends. But…" He lowered his head, "My real purpose is to protect you."

Miserie blinked. "Me?" she asked.

Tails sighed and turned around. "Miserie…you don't know how awesome you are. You're selfless. Everything you've done isn't for you, it's for everyone. And I wish I could be like that." He paused. "Ever since we met, I knew you'd be that way. I don't know how, but I did. I knew that you'd be that way. Miserie, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I swear it. I don't want to lose you, Miserie. I don't want you to be gone forever. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I just want…" he hesitated.

Miserie stared, wide-eyed, at Tails. She wanted to say something, but what could she say?

"Miserie, I can't describe how I feel sometimes when I'm with you. I'm so relieved that you're here. I'm so relieved that you're with me. I don't think I could do any of this, or we could do this without you." Tails said. "And that's why I just want you to live on, even if you don't have a purpose."

"I don't want…to lose…you…" Miserie repeated, slowly. Tails looked at her, drained. "you really don't?" She asked. "You really don't think I'm useless? Or stupid? Or fat?"

"No." Tails said. "Why would I think that about you? Miserie, I…"

She waited, but he wouldn't continue. Finally she asked, "What?"

"It's nothing." Tails said.

"What are you trying to say?" She asked. "Is it something…bad?"

"no, Miserie, it's exactly the opposite."

"So you're saying it's something. Something good?" Miserie asked.

"I think so." Tails said. "But it's not really anything important."

"You said you wouldn't lie to me. So tell me the truth. Is it important?" She asked.

Tails looked at her. He faintly smiled. "It's important." He said. "It's important."

"How important?" Miserie persisted.

"…Well, it might not be important to you, but it is to me." Tails said.

Miserie watched him turn around again as they started their trek past the gigantic fleet. She whispered, "Tell me what it is, Tails."

He shook his head. "I can't."

"Why?"

"…It's hard." He said.

Miserie smiled. "I didn't think it would be easy. Tell me, please…?"

"…" Tails wouldn't look at her. He wouldn't speak to her. Miserie waited for endless minutes for him to answer, but he was flying the plane, looking at his steering wheel and radar like a hawk.

"Wo Ai Ni." He said, suddenly.

"…Wo Ai Ni?" Miserie blinked. "What…? Wo Ai Ni…It's not English." She sighed.

"When you figure it out….then you'll know." Tails said.

A game? Miserie thought to herself. She glared down at her hands. Wo Ai Ni. Three words.

…Wo Ai Ni…


	43. File 9 Entry 3 Cry All My Tears

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: I'm sorry guys, I'm sooo emabarassed when people say 'You've done good work' and I'm like 'wah! Thanks!' I think everyone does good work! I'm also tres corny….

Right into the story this Time! Yayyy!

_File 9 Ballad of A Fallen Angel _

_Entry 3 Cry All My Tears_

* * *

Miserie looked around expectantly. She had hoped to pass the Fleet a couple hours ago. She still hadn't figured out Wo Ai Ni, and Tails didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"How long…has it been?" She asked.

"…A long time." Tails said. "What do you think is going on with that fleet?"

"I don't know. Look at how slow they're going…" Miserie paused. She turned around, Where Amy was sleeping on Shadow's arm, Shadow was trying to pull his arm out of her grip, Talon was snoring away but sonic, who had tied him to the plane by his long fur. Sonic was grinning.

Tails was silent. The radio crackled.

"Tails, can you mmfph me?" Knuckles asked. Tails nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Huh? Knuckles?" He said, excited.

"Who did you mmph, Santa Claus?"

"…Your transmission isn't clear." Miserie observed.

"Knuckles, do you have the Emeralds?"

"Unfortunately, yes." He said. "they have a machine here, with the space for the next four Emeralds. The Master Emerald, they haven't moved yet. But if they do, I'll kill them!"

"How many soilders?" Tails asked.

"How would you say 'a lot' in chinese?"

"Chinese! Aha!" Miserie said, grinning. "Now I'll figure out what it means!"

Tails smiled. "Thanks, Knuckles."

"Yeah, sure, anytime. Listen, Tails, the fleet is prammphally empty, so if you zoom by they woulmmfph notice."

"Okay."

Miserie went through her Chinese. A whole seven dictionaries were programmed into her brain, and she wasn't sure which to check first. Wo Ai Ni, huh…

"What are you doing?" Tails asked.

"Right now, I mmph hide." Knuckles said. "It loommph like your mother planned on you returning."

"She did?" Tails asked.

Miserie looked at Tails. He didn't seem happy to meet his mother. "Knuckles," Miserie said.

"Yeah?"

"Can you call us back?"

"Sure. Expect mmph in thirty minutes." The radio crackled again.

"Why'd you do that?" Tails asked.

"Because you're not happy." Miserie said.

"What?"

"you don't want to see her, do you?" Miserie asked, sadly.

"My mother?" Tails asked.

"…yes." Miserie said.

Tails looked distracted. He sped up and slowed down, over and over until he finally said, "no, I don't want to see her."

"Why not?"

"…I don't know. I wanted to before. So badly." He looked at her. "But then when she wrote to me, it all changed. I thought she was in trouble. She wasn't though. I thought she was dead. She wasn't. All of a sudden, my imaginary world became a reality. I didn't like it…I don't like living a fantasy."

"It's not a fantasy." Miserie told him. "This is real, isn't it?" Tails looked at her sadly.

"Even if I knew…" He said, pausing.

"Are you alright?" Miserie asked. She smiled. "If you feel like you want to cry, then cry." She told him. "Cry all your tears. I'll be here."

"…I don't want to cry…" Tails hesitated. "Maybe a little. But… She was so much different, Miserie…you don't know how different she was."

"Tell me then."

"I had always imagined her to be nice, but…She's so evil. She wants revenge on Sonic, but…I can't let her! He's watched out for me since I was a kid! How could I kill Sonic?"

Miserie gazed into the clouds. "To kill Sonic…Is that why they tried to hurt Shadow too?" She looked at the slow moving fleet. "I wonder."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Talon screamed. Miserie winced. The fleet all of a sudden, was in action.

"Crap!" Tails flung himself around in his seat. "Tell them to hold on, Miserie!"

"But"

"Just do it, Miserie!" Tails commanded.

She did as she was told, and then she said, "Tails, I can't hold on to anything up here! What are you going to do!"

"Then…Then get in here!" Tails said, hurriedly.

"Are you MAD!" Miserie asked. "That's the PILOTS seat, already occupied by YOU!"

"Unless you can run on Air, you need to be in here, now," Tails said. "They will fire, and they'll do it without question. Just get in here, will you?"

"Well, where am I going to sit, ON you?" Miserie asked.

"I don't know, just…" Tails sounded tired. "We can't argue right now. Come on, hurry up."

Miserie sighed and climbed into the pilot's seat with Tails. He scrunched over into a corner, and Miserie realized she had enough room to sit. "Tails…" She murmured.

"I hope everyone's holding on," He said, quietly. "You too Miserie, hold on to something."

She looked around, but there was absolutely nothing to hold. Everything looked too important. Finally she grabbed Tails and held on tight.

He gasped, but said nothing. After flicking a bunch of switches, Miserie felt the ship lurch and suddenly they were hurtling through the air.

Miserie sighed and snuggled into Tails' fur. He was so warm… So at least he was doing what he promised.

"Miserie…?" Tails asked. He was relaxed now. She looked up at him and smiled.

"So I figured it out, Tails." She said, softly. "Wo. Ai. Ni." She paused. "I. Love. You."

He smiled. "Yeah." He agreed. "That's what it means."

"…I…" Miserie paused, then she smiled. "you're so nice, Tails. Thank you." She realized she was still hugging him and she let go and moved away quickly. "Sorry."

He smiled. "…S'okay." He said."

"Alright, uhm, maybe I should leave then?" Miserie said.

"…You can stay here…if you want." He said, nervously.

She smiled. "Maybe just for a little while." Tails nodded and Miserie snuggled up to him again and closed her eyes. She drifted off to sleep, warm against Tails' fur.


	44. File 9 Entry 4 'Cause You'll Hate Yourse...

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: so yes, I got Tails to tell Miserie he loved her! I know, it was so soon. How could I, wahhh!

This file is called Ballad of a Fallen Angel. It's named that because of Miserie. She's 'Fallen' because she came from the sky. I say 'ballad' because Ballads are usually sad songs (or the ones I play are anyway), and 'Angel', because that's what Tails thinks she is.

I'm so mad at myself. I couldn't fix this chapter as HARD AS I TRIED it still came out as crap. Arrgh! Hate this cahpter right now, but it fits because it flows on to the next one.

The song that Miserie remembers is Wind by Akeboshi, featured in Naruto. I really love that song. It's really beautiful. The beginning part is my favorite, before Akeboshi sings. The instruments. That's basically the best part. To me. The lyrics are cool too.

INTO THE STORY!

_File 9 Ballad of a Fallen Angel _

_Entry 4 'Cause You'll Hate Yourself in the End_

Miserie felt the wind blowing against her ears. She opened one eye, thinking about how comfortable she was in her bed…when she realized she wasn't in bed. She blushed uncontrollably when she remembered she had been sleeping on Tails.

"Hey, you're awake." Tails said, suddenly.

Miserie looked up at Tails and smiled. "Where are we?"

He shrugged. "We passed the fleet a two hours ago." He told her. "We're headed to Angel Island."

"Oh…" Miserie said. She got up and shook out her matted fur. "I'm sorry I fell asleep on you, Tails I.."

"No problem, Miserie." He told her. He glanced at her and smiled. "It's okay. I don't mind."

"…" Miserie smiled and she stretched. "It's so great to be alive!" She said happily. "How close are we to Angel Island?"

"We're here!" He said happily. Miserie stared out onto the big island, but she immediately got worried.

"oh no!" She murmured, looking at the densely forested area. "The guards in there are shrouded…"

"Yeah, probably." Tails said. "But that makes it more fun. Like hide and seek."

Miserie looked at him. "Are you saying that because I'm a toy?" She asked.

He looked genuinely surprised. "No way!" he said.

"Alright. Because I'm not actually sure how to play hide and seek, so no help there." Miserie said. She turned around to see what Shadow and everyone were doing. "Everyone's okay!"

"Yup." Tails agreed. "You were the chief worry."

"I was? How come?"

Tails didn't reply to her question. Instead he said, "We're landing in a couple minutes."

"Okay." Miserie said. She tried to get up, but found herself strapped down.

Tails smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. When you fell asleep, you became so easy to push around I had to buckle you in."

"You pushed me?" Miserie asked.

"The wind, I mean. We sped up at least ten more times. With a chaos emerald, I'm not worried about gas levels, but this plane can only take so much stress." He said.

"…Thanks." Miserie said. She unbuckled herself and climbed out of the plane's pilot seat. She stretched and took another look at Angel Island. So much like Freedom…Yet everything would be different this time, wouldn't they? Things would never be the same. Never.

She sighed inwardly. She had been hoping they could miss this part of their mission, but it wasn't possible. If they slipped up here, on the final stretch, there was no doubt in her mind that the people of Freedom would become evil greedy people. The only choice now was to finish them off. Yet…

Miserie couldn't see how Tails could look at this so calmly, even if he was hiding his feelings. His mother was the leader. Out of evil had spawned good. Something like Yin and Yang. Except Tails' mother wasn't originally evil, with proved her point even more. This whole thing was a balance, good and evil, right and wrong. So who were they to save the world anyway?

…They were the elite, weren't they?

"Miserie!" Miserie snapped out of her dreaming thoughtful state to find Talon was already up and had seen her. She looked back at Tails, who was watching the island with supreme interest, but Miserie could tell he was somewhat jealous. She looked up at Talon. He walked gingerly over to her, saying, "Are you alright? I wish I had been here to help you."

"I'm fine." Miserie said, her eyes now riddled on the island instead of on Talon. She could feel it inside of her, this sense of dread. She couldn't control it, it felt like…

…that same cold feeling she felt by Maria's room that day… The one that caused her to cry her scarlet tears, the bright red hemoglobin matting her fur… But why?

No matter, right? She told herself, looking at her hands. It'll never happen again. Tails won't let it, will he? No more tears…no more…right? It'll never happen again.

But she knew she was lying to herself as she said this. She tuned into Talons conversation.

"We were worried you were dead, because we didn't see you, but Tails saved you!" Talon said. He looked at Miserie and smiled. "You know what? Maybe when this is all over, you'll come with me and…Miserie?"

Dead? Miserie thought about death. What did death feel like? Teardrops. Stinging teardrops. All of a sudden she was over come with grief. Is that how Maria died?

"Miserie, are you alright?"

"…no." Miserie said, knowing she hated the way this island made her uneasy. Why? Why was it doing this to her? A stab of pain to her neck caused her to crumple, hearing only Tails' voice calling her name in vain.

_Music played. Bells. Miserie could remember the song, slightly. What was this place? A reflection? A shadow? Miserie remembered something she couldn't remember hearing: Reflection of fear makes shadows of nothing, shadows of nothing._

_Am I dead now? Miserie thought. Am I gone too? A second of pain for loud silence forever?_

_A fuzzy image came into her head, and she gasped. "PROFESSOR!" She screeched, but her mouth said, "Project Miserie, online. Status: Normal. Systems: Emotions: Functional.." Her mouth went on, with so many systems online and offline and ready and…_

_When she finally finished speaking, the professor said, "Ha HA! This is the perfect creation!"_

_She was confused. "Perfect?" she asked. This time her mouth complied and spoke the words._

"_Miserie, my dear. You are such a wonderful toy for Maria." The professor said._

"_So I am a toy." Miserie said. Her mouth defiantly would not say her words to the Professor._

"_Even more, you are a perfect match for Shadow! An indestructible team I've created." The professor said. "The perfect creation indeed."_

"_What am I, then?" Miserie asked. Her mouth complied._

"_Project Miserie, of course. The chaos field generator." The professor said it as if it was obvious. He went on. "You can harness the energy of the Chaos Emeralds for a little while. While you do, you will be able to help Shadow. I know he'll need your help. You can feel the energies. They pulse through your system, don't they? I was lucky. I found a small shard of Emerald, but I couldn't inject it into Shadow. So now your heart…you pump through your system liquefied Chaos Emerald. It took a lot of work, especially in all your bones, but I finally fixed you up perfect. Now you can helpSshadow."_

"_Why?" Miserie asked. Her mouth let her say that too._

"_Soon, very soon. You and Shadow and Maria, you will be the last of the ARK crew. Together, one day, you'll save Earth. Together. You'll do it. Together." He sounded faraway. The picture was blurring. He was leaving!_

"_Nooo! Professor!" Miserie cried. "What was the purpose…!"_

"…The purpose…" She murmured, opening her eyes. She recognized Shadow's red eyes. "Shadow…"

"Are you alright?" Shadow asked, softly. He frowned. "You're crying."

"…I…" she faltered. "I have a purpose…" She felt another tear.

"What?" Shadow wipedthe tears on her face away, matting her fur with blood.

"He said it. The professor told me...I can…harness the Chaos Emeralds power, for a little while…" She said. "I have a purpose…"

Shadow let her sit up and he smiled. "You've always had a purpose." He told her. "Now. Don't cry."

"I won't." She said. Then she paused. "…We were supposed to save the world, but…"

"We'll do it. All of us. Together. That's why we're here, remember?" Shadow asked.

Miserie nodded. "I feel bad now. So wound up and worried. It's the pain. They feel pain."

"Who?" Shadow asked.

"The Emeralds…" Miserie said. "They feel pain."

"Are you saying you can find them, Miserie?"

"I know where they are." She said. "but I never felt this before. Why?"

"I don't know." Shadow said. "but Miserie, if you can find where they are, it'll save us time. The less time we use, the quicker this pain will be over with."

"…Yes." Miserie said hollowly.

"Are you okay?" Shadow asked again.

"I'll be fine." Miserie told him.

I hope I'll be fine. She thought.


	45. File 9 Entry 5 Sadness and Sorrow

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: Nya. I'm so unproud of myself, because it took me THAT long to get this entry up. You may shoot now.

My dad shut off the Internet, sowwies… That and Fanfiction was being uber retarded- I love you guys anyway!

Naima won America's Top Model, and I'm so proud of her. I mean, she's so pretty. So I was happy she won. Oh, and I'm pissed off about this chapter. It's pretty bad.

_File 9 Ballad of A Fallen Angel_

_Entry 5 Sadness and Sorrow_

Miserie closed her eyes and felt the pain that was welling up in her stomach flare. She tried to cease it, but she couldn't. At least she was getting used to it.

"Which way, Miserie? Which way are the Emeralds?" Talon asked, excitedly.

Miserie turned her head towards Talon's voice. "Wait." She said, softly, focusing.

_Where are you? Talk to me!_ Miserie thought. In return, she saw bubbles coming from her left. She turned. Even with her eyes closed, she could see the colors of the Emeralds- Azure, Scarlet, Rose, Saffron, Navy, Emerald, and Violet. Saffron, Rose, Azure, and Navy disappeared. She had those four. But Scarlet, Violet and Emerald lingered, and then burst into bubbles. They danced away into the distance. Miserie's eyes slowly opened. There the bubbles were, as if they were real. Were they? "This way?" She asked, following the bubbles.

Shadow, Sonic, Amy, Talon and Tails followed her as she slowly walked. She cringed with every new step. A spring of pain was being built inside of her, but she couldn't turn back. She felt slower and more woozy than ever.

"Miserie's hurt." Amy said, softly. Miserie felt Amy's hand, and she gently pushed it off.

Bubbles popping! She couldn't see them anymore! A splatter of crimson made her jump. She didn't feel as much pain anymore, but her whole body shivered like a leaf.

"No." She said, shakily. "They are calling me, but they're afraid…of you. So please." She cringed as she took a step forward. "Don't… Worry anymore."

Sonic said, "We'll still need to protect you as we get deeper in. Knuckles has already knocked out most of the guards. Still, we need to be careful. Okay, Miserie?"

"Yes." Miserie agreed. _I'm coming, guys._ She told herself, where the Emeralds were closely listening. _Don't be afraid anymore. I'm coming to help you. I'm here. I'm here_

The bubbles slowly returned, dancing away

Every shaky step intensified her pain. Bit by bit, she could feel her strength ebbing away.

"So that must be why you know so much about the emeralds then." Tails said suddenly.

Miserie glanced at him. "…What?" She asked, in almost a whisper.

He smiled. "Nothing."

Miserie looked up into the sky, where the bubbles were now dancing. She sighed. _Where are you going?_ She asked. They still danced, waiting for her to follow. "…Up there." She pointed.

Shadow stared. "Into the sky?" he asked.

A crashing noise startled the group.

"Tails, you stay with Miserie. You two can probably disarm whatever they're making with the Emeralds. Me and Shadow'll keep in front, and Talon and Amy, you bring up the rear. We can't let Miserie get hurt right now." Sonic ordered.

Miserie widened her eyes as the group fanned out. Tails was the only who stayed close by.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Miserie looked, wide eyed, at the bubbles.

"All this pain…for jewels." She said.

"But they aren't ordinary jewels. And the outcome will be far greater than any other I can think of." Tails said.

She closed her eyes, trying to comfort herself. "I wish I could believe it too." She said.

"You're upset?" Tails asked.

"I hurt." Miserie said. "The pain is killing me."

"Why is it happening to you? The pain?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's…maybe it's my blood's wavelength." She said, looking at her hands. "If my blood is really liquefied Chaos Emerald, then… it's wavelength is different."

"Your blood is what?" Tails shook his head in disbelief. "How could anyone get a piece of the Chaos Emerald?"

"It's not diamond. Although strong, it can become fragile. The doctor injected it into my bloodstream, then probably took out all my real blood. And he changed my bone marrow to secrete chaos emerald liquid." Miserie said. "It could have taken years."

Tails reach out to touch her hand, but recoiled instantly. "I can't touch you, right?"

Miserie shook her head 'no', but she said, "Yes."

Tails looked confused, and then he laughed. "Miserie, make up your mind."

_Don't be afraid._ She told the Emeralds. _Don't be afraid. He's gonna help us, so don't be afraid._ She reach out for Tails' hand. "Alright. As long as they aren't afraid." He took her hand. She closed her eyes tightly and thought, _Please don't be afraid. Please!_

The bubbles faded, but finally they returned to their normal state. Dancing in front of her, the bubbles still showed her a path to the sky.

"…Alright. Let's go." She told Tails. He nodded. "Up." she said, which didn't evoke a response in Tails at all.

"I can't fly for very long. You'll have to tell me which direction and everything as soon as you see it." He told her.

Miserie stared at him for a couple seconds. "Fly…?" She asked. Then she weakly smiled. "Alright. I'll tell you it as soon as I"

Amy let out a piercing yell. Tails didn't waste any time getting into the air, looking back at where Amy was worriedly.

"She's hurt!" Miserie said, her stomach's pain intense. Tails didn't really have time to go slow, but it hurt…so badly, it hurt. Tails had taken her other hand and was flying them up, into the stream of bubbles, Crimson, Emerald, and Violet.

"We can't go back…not now." Tails said. "Keep your eyes focused on the Emeralds! I'll go back and help Amy, when you're safe."

Miserie looked back before turning back to the bubbles. They had split by color. Crimson veered off to the left, Emerald to the right, and Violet straight ahead. "Keep going…straight." She said.

As they flew, Miserie could see a giant spire. It was the same silvery gray as all metal was, with a flag of white cascading off of it.

"What is that?" Tails asked.

"Descend here. I think it's a…" Miserie paused. "A citadel."

"We aren't close to the citadel yet. Why are we going down?" Tails said. Miserie followed her trail of Violet bubbles.

"We're getting close to Violet now." Miserie said. "Are you going to leave me here?"

"…I can't. You have to…have to be safe." He said, sadly staring back at where Amy was.

"Just go." Miserie told him. "It can't be that hard to find it."

"I won't." Tails said. Miserie looked up at him and finally asked:

"Why?"

He looked down at her. "What kind of friend would I be then?" he asked. "I told you I'd protect you. So I will." He paused. "Plus…I told you before that…I loved you. Would it be fair to leave you here to die?"

"…" Miserie looked down. "…I guess not. But Amy"

"Talon's job is to protect her now. I can't." Tails said. "Sonic told me to stay with you. So we'll stick together."

"… If we collect all the Emeralds, I can take their powers away for a while. But that energy could cause a chaos control if it's not controlled well." Miserie said. "I can't let you get hurt either." Miserie felt her feet drag against the ground. Tails collapsed under a bush, and Miserie peeked in at him.

"For once, Miserie," Tails said. "It's alright…if you worry about…you."

Miserie stared at him, but he looked away.

"…I'm not going to worry about me when you're here." She said. "I can't." She felt tears well up in her eyes.

Tails looked at her. "Don't cry!" He said, looking flustered. He got up.

Miserie shrank back, holding onto her stomach, where the pain had ceased, but now was replaced with a stinging numb feeling. When Tails reach out to get a hold of her, she scuttled backwards.

"Why…?" Tails asked.

Miserie sighed. "If I really wanted to stop worrying, I'd have to stop caring. And I care a lot about you, Tails… So don't make me stop caring. Alright?" she asked.

He glanced into the sky and then back at her. "Alright." He said. "Worry away."

Miserie breathed a shaky sigh. "Violet is here." She said, watching violet bubbles swirl around her. She backed up until she found her hand touching something cold. "What…?" When she turned to look, it was a giant metal…tree root?

Tails came over and studied it. "…There's no question now… They're doing everything they can to suck the energy out of the place."

"Wh…Why are they doing this?" Miserie asked. "What's gonna happen?"

"There are nutrients in the soil that cause trees to grow. This root is fashioned like a tree root, and I bet it sucks up those same nutrients. The nutrients can be reformed into energy." Tails paused. "But they have the unlimited supply from the emeralds…"

"…That's terrible." Miserie said. She winced at the sharp pain she felt when she stood up. "I think Violet is inside there. We have to free it." Then she paused. "The unlimited supply… Maybe they want all the Emeralds at once. It's harder to insert an Emerald while a machine is running."

"Sounds okay. But we have to free it soon. Look." Tails pointed at the small trees around them. They were wilting, dying away.

"But there's no way…" Miserie cut herself off. That day when she was with Shadow, the first day on Earth, that day when they had attacked her and Shadow, what had he told her…?

'Your tails are your weapons. If you swing them fast enough, they can become almost knifelike. They'll swing though anything.' She remembered Shadow saying.

"What?" Tails asked. Miserie looked at him and smiled.

"I can…I can open it. If you keep watch." She told him.

Tails looked worried, but he did as he was told. Miserie looked down at the root again. No doubt the guards were off fighting someone, but she could almost guess there was an alarm set up to in case someone hit the root and damaged it.

Still, Miserie had to hit it. She whipped her tails up and tried to find a point of weakness. None… at all. She'd have to make one. With that last thought, she slammed her tails into the root, sending a blaring siren off.

"The Root!" Miserie heard a couple voices. She shook out her tails and struck again. A giant dent appeared, but the structure was fine.

Tails looked around. "Where will they be coming from?" He asked.

Miserie shrugged and shook out her tails again. "I don't know." She said. "I'll hurry."

Two muscular male foxes burst out of the forage. "Miles!" They sounded surprised. Them they looked at Miserie. "YOU!" They yelled, banshee cries.

Miserie glared up at them and shook her tails out.

"Don't get any closer!" Tails commanded, as the two foxes barreled at Miserie.

"We don't take orders from you!" One fox said, as Miserie watched them growing closer.

One more hit… and the structure would break.

"Terrorists!" Came another cry, and a couple more foxes came running at Tails.

Miserie slammed her tails into the root. It still didn't break. She looked up fearfully, and turned to run.

"Miserie!" Tails called, catching up. He took her arm and said softly, "Sorry about this," before tossing her into the air with all the strength he could muster up.

Miserie went back flipping into the air. She could feel her stomach pain decrease.

"He can't do this..." Miserie cried to herself in the air. "I need help…Help to get Violet back!"

She closed her eyes, and she saw the emerald they already collected. She stared at them in her mind, wondering. Finally she realized it. The reason she wasn't reacting was because _SHE WAS ALREADY USED TO THOSE EMERALDS._ How could they hurt her? They were offering her their power. They were telling her to help Tails…and she would…

_With Your help…_She said to the Emeralds, _I'll save Tails for all the times…He's saved me._


	46. File 10 Entry 1 With No Proof

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: And….we're off into the final chapter! Wow, huh? I mean, it's such a great story! (sobs) okay, so I'm over dramatizing, but I'm really glad to have gotten THIS FAR, you know?

_File 10 This Is Where It All Ends_

_Entry 1 With No Proof Anyone Could Hear_

* * *

Amy whimpered as the guards surrounded her. She couldn't remember them, but they obviously remembered HER. She looked up, and Miserie was staring back at her, her green eyes wide, searching for a trace of Amy anywhere.

"…Mis…" Amy murmured, smiling. Then she remembered she was being attacked. Where was Talon? Had he run away?

"Got her!" One guard had wrapped his tails firmly around her waist and legs.

"LEMME GO!" Amy screamed. "LEMME GO OR YOU'LL REGRET IT!"

The guard smirked. "Yeah, whatcha gonna do?" He asked, nonchalantly. He flicked Amy's nose. "You're a trapped hedgehog."

"Yeah, trapped," Said one of his lackeys.

"We'll find those other hedgehogs and knock 'em off too." Said a third guard.

"You won't!" Amy said. "They're too smart for you!"

"Hedgehogs? Smarter than US? Ha! We're the elite!" The first guard said.

"The Elite!" The other guard repeated.

"No STUPID hedgehog could beat US, right Sienna?"

The guard that was slowly squeezing Amy nodded. "I mean, look at you." He said. "You don't even know you're stupid."

Amy was boiling. HER stupid? She'd show them…if she could reach her hammer. "Ha!" she scoffed. "You don't even know when you've walked into a trap!"

"Oh yeah?" Sienna asked.

"Oh yeah?" His little repeating lackey said.

"Prove it. I love a challenge, hedgehog."

"Alright, good. 'Cause you're about to get a BIG one!" Amy recognized Sonic's confident voice.

"Sonic!" She said, craning her neck. Sienna tightened his tails.

"Another hedgehog? You guys ARE idiots." HE said. "Get him!"

Sonic danced past the two guards attempts to catch him and landed with a flourish by Sienna. "Hey buddy." He said, suddenly serious. "What kinda tough guy holds a GIRL as a hostage? I mean, look at her."

"What did you say!" Amy asked angrily.

"You could do better than THAT." Sonic said.

"OH YEAH!" Amy yelled. She forcefully pushed Sienna's tails off of her. "We'll see about THAT, SONIC!"

He grinned and stepped in front of Sienna. "You won't do anything." He teased.

Amy gripped her hammer. "Then take this!" She yelled, and she swung her hammer. Two seconds later, she realized she wasn't held by Sienna anymore, that he was lying on the ground with most of his teeth scattered about, and that the other two guards had run away. She turned to Sonic. "…What happened?"

"You scared them off. Nice job." He said, grinning. "Sorry about what I said. I didn't mean it, you know. You're just super strong when you're angry."

Amy blushed. "Well…I do get a lot of practice in…"

Shadow appeared from some bushes. "…It looks like there are more guards coming."

"So now what?" Amy asked.

"Where's Talon?" Sonic asked.

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Something about that kid pisses me off."

Amy looked at Shadow. She looked back at Sonic. "We can't look for him now."

"Right. Let's find Knuckles." Sonic said. "Shadow, can you go ahead? You're better at stealth than I am!"

"Yeah, whatever." Shadow disappeared into the bushes.

"….Amy, you be careful, okay?" Sonic asked. Amy blinked and blushed.

"Okay." She said. Sonic grinned and sped off after Shadow.

In a lovestruck daze, Amy followed. Wow, was Sonic nice? He had saved her life again! Jeez, if Sonic hadn't showed up, his black and red quilled self, she'd have been…

"WHOA!" She yelped, screeching to a stop and tripping over a tree root. Did she just refer to SHADOW?

But she didn't like Shadow, did she? He was evil! Evil bad, Evil REAL bad…

Then she heard an alarm. "Oh-oh…" She murmured. Guards were filing in from everywhere. This time…

Maybe just Sonic wouldn't be able to save her…

* * *

Shadow dashed along, noticing that there were fewer guards than before. He skidded when he saw a flash of red. He gripped the Chaos Emerald that Sonic had pushed into his hand.

Sonic slammed into him at mach force. Shadow fell onto a tree root and opened his mouth to yell at Sonic when he heard an alarm. He looked down at the tree root and realized it was silver.

"Oh CRAP." He said to Sonic, who was busy backing up towards Shadow.

"You're tellin' me!" Sonic said.

Shadow looked up. They were surrounded by Guards!

"Get 'em!" One burly guard yelped, and suddenly, foxes were diving out of nowhere to kill the two hedgehog heroes.

"Whadda we do?" Sonic asked, as he kicked away the closest guard.

"…" Shadow grimaced as he got hit. "DISAPPEAR!" He finally yelled, and white spears of energy struck down a third of the fox army. Some got up, other lay there looking for all the world like dead.

"Good idea." Sonic said, and he paused. "Wait, not good idea!" He pointed.

The army had doubled, seeing that attack. If they didn't find a way to stop them from coming, the hedgehogs would be goners!

"Crimson lighting!" Came Knuckles voice. Sonic turned quickly and cried:

"Sonic Wind!"

Both attacks knocked out half the army together. Still, foxes were getting up. Those who were hit full on, however, didn't get up.

"You okay?" Knuckles asked. He had landed behind Shadow during all the confusion.

"Been better." Sonic said.

"Hn." Shadow replied, and he looked around. "If we don't hurry up, we'll be gone."

"Wait, where's Amy?" Sonic said.

Knuckles shrugged. "I don't know. Was she with you?"

"Why else would he be ASKING about her? Knuckles, you find Amy. Sonic, you stick around here and fight off half of the army. I'll stay here too. Knuckles, you bring Amy here, then we'll move on."

"Right."

"Let's go!"

* * *

Tails worried nonstop about Miserie. He watched as the guards circled him, and he was about to attack when…

"Chaos…. Sphere!"

Tails looked up. "Miserie!" He said, as she fell. She looked totally calm, for a free faller who was about to meet her end. Her index fingers met and so did her thumbs, making a perfect 'O'. What had she done? Tails caught her, back in one arm, legs in the other, and she looked at him, her green eyes looking bright.

"…Are you okay?" She asked, finally. She sounded tired.

"I'm fine. What happened? What did you do?"

"…I helped you, right? You're not hurt?" Miserie looked worried.

"I'm fine. I swear."

"…" She closed her eyes. "That's how we'll break in. Using Chaos Sphere."

Tails put Miserie down on her feet. "…Chaos Sphere?"

"I…" She paused. "I made up a move to help you. It's like a fast bullet, made with energy. It changed shape. Didn't you see it?" She was breathing heavily. He wasn't sure if she was alright.

"No."

"Oh." She looked sad. "You missed it. I'm sorry." Tails smiled.

"I'll see it the next time. Let's get the Emerald." He soothed. Miserie nodded.

"…Alright." She aligned her fingers again. "…Chaos Sphere!"

Her whole body was jerked back, but Tails saw it now, a glowing ball of energy that burst out of her fingers. It was moving so fast he lost track of it in an instant. However, the root's metal covering was broken.

"Let's go!" Tails took Miserie's hand.

"Okay!" She said. With that, both of them disappeared into the root.

* * *

"Dey Nocked Ouf Mah Teef!"

"Whaaat?"

"DEY NOCKED OUF MAH TEEF!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"

"DEY NOCKED OUF MAH TEEF!"

Amy whirled around from where she was pounding ferociously with her hammer to see Sienna pointing at Amy and waving at his bleeding mouth. The fox with him had his head in his hands.

"MAH TEEF!"

"Speak English! You sound ridiculous! I'm ashamed to call you Captain!"

"DO OO NOF SEA MAH TEEF!"

Amy wanted to laugh, but she was worried out of her mind. How would she escape?

"Amy!" Her ears perked up when she heard Knuckles voice. She looked around and there Knuckles was, perched in a tree, waving at her to come.

"AH SAYED DEY NOCKED OUF MAH TEEF! WAT PAR O DIS DO OO NOF UDDERSTAN?"

"What did he say?

The army around Amy all looked from Amy to their captain, murmuring, "He's gone mad. I knew he would." And "I can't believe this. I seriously can't believe this."

Amy blinked. The army wasn't attacking? Was this lucky, or was she dreaming?

"AMY!" Knuckles hissed again, and she glared at him.

"I KNOW!" she mouthed.

"Then get OVER here." Knuckles hissed.

"WAIT." She mouthed again.

He sighed.

Amy looked at the captain who was frantically pointing at his broken teeth. She looked at the army, who weren't paying attention to her. Then she took two steps back.

"YAH!" She cried, using her hammer to slam her into the air. The army looked up.

"WAT R OO DOING? GET HER!" The captian yelled.

Knuckles grabbed her leg and started jumping through trees.

"Get off of my leg!" Amy screamed at him.

"No way!" Knuckles said. "I have to get you back to the group. Where's Talon?"

"I don't know, but if you don't stop, I'll hurt you!"

"You will not!"

"Will so!"

"Will" Knuckles turned to look back and Amy swung her hammer and hit him.

"PERVERT!" She screeched, pushing down her dress.

"oooooo…" Knuckles groaned. Amy sighed.

"Let's get out of here, Knuckles," She said, grabbing his arm.

* * *

Miserie looked at the violet bubbles and said, "Tails, I think we're closer!"

"Hm." Tails was inspecting a wall. "I don't think they could have engineered this?"

"Why not?" Miserie asked.

"It would take a genius to infuse these reactors into here."

"But maybe they have geniuses?"

"No, a genius with a whole lot of precision. And it would take years to do something like this unless you have a robot army." Tails said. He stopped walking. "Wait."

"Why?"

"Robot army?" He said, slowly. "Is Eggman behind this?"

Miserie looked at Tails and finally she shrugged. "Beats me. Let's get the emerald and get out of here."

"…" Tails nodded. Miserie smiled.

"…Tails." She said, suddenly. He looked at her. She shyly looked at her feet. "…I never got to tell you…I…Uhm…Ashiteru, Tails."

He blinked. "Ashiteru?" He asked. She nodded. He smiled, reach out to touch her, but she danced away.

"…I'm…uhm…I'm gonna go up ahead!" She murmured. She hurriedly rushed forward. Tails took a second to rethink what happened, and then he followed her.

"Miserie, wait up!" He called. She turned around to face him, waved for him to follow, and kept dashing along. He smiled.

...No wonder she worried so much...


	47. File 10 Entry 2 All's fair in Love, War,

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: I made a mistake. I said the last chapter was the final chapter. I sorta lied. I meant this file. It's the last one. Yup. Last. L.A.S.T. NOW WILL YOU STOP IMing me!

In all seriousness, I'm so upset about it ending because I had fun writing this story… TT And with SDA as my greatest reviewer person ever (who is awesome and deserves an award for her coolness) and all you other anonymous (and awesome) reviewers, and the signed reviews too… I couldn't have had a better time. Thanks guys, you're all awesome.

_File 10 This is Where it All Ends _

_Entry 2 All's Fair in Love, War, and Nuclear Explosions_

* * *

Miserie widened her eyes. "…Violet." She murmured.

"Eh?" Tails looked up from his inspection of the walls. Miserie turned around with a huge smile.

"It's Violet! I found him!" Miserie pointed up at a shrine like area, where the purple emerald was hovering. Tails took a look and gasped.

"What in the..." He paused and looked back at the wall. "It has to be Eggman. He's behind the whole thing!"

"What do you mean?" Miserie asked. She looked at the emerald. "How do you know Eggman is behind all of this?"

"Look at the shrine. That fat happy face there, with the orange hair sticking out of it is his logo. I couldn't decide before, but now it all makes a little bit of sense!"

"It does?" Miserie asked. She walked over to Tails and took his hand in both of hers. "But he's not gonna get away with it, right? You've beaten him before, haven't you?"

Tails looked at her and for a second, he looked sad. Then he smiled. "Yeah. We'll beat him again."

Miserie smiled. "Okay. Good." She said. But she didn't let go of Tails' hand. "Will it hurt us…if we go in there?"

"I don't know. I can't be sure." Tails said. "Let's go closer and check it out."

Miserie nodded. "Alright."

Both of them crept towards the shrine with Eggman's logo on it, taking small steps. Tails kept looking at the walls and the floor, but Miserie had one target only…The emerald, Violet.

"…Nothing's happened and we're here." Miserie said, softly.

"The shrine could be some sort of trap. Is that the real Emerald?"

"It must be. It's calling to me. It has to be the real thing."

"There has to be something guarding it." Tails said.

Miserie nodded. "I agree." She said. Tails smiled.

"Well…I don't know about you, but I think we should reach in and get it."

"…Yeah." Miserie let go of Tails' hand and started to walk towards the emerald. As soon as her whole body was inside the shrine, a barrier activated. Miserie felt a world of hurt, but she couldn't scream, couldn't hear, couldn't see. Everything was numb and black and gone.

_Is this death?_ She thought. _Is this where I'm headed? Why am I here? Why am I here?_

_Do you really want to know why you're here?_ Miserie's eyes snapped open at the noise, but she could only see white sparks and crackles of yellow and red. The voice was in her head?

_Who are you?_ Miserie asked. _What do you want? Why is this happening? Why am I here?_

It's really simple, actually. I am Violet. The emerald? You know me. The reason you're here is easy too. You came to save me. But even more so…You came to die. Didn't you?

_Did I?_

_Didn't you, Miserie? Didn't you come here to die?_ Miserie found it disturbing that the Emerald was happy about the situation.

You aren't Violet, are you? Violet…can't be this way.

_You said it yourself a long time ago. We emeralds must get used to one another. You're like the eighth Chaos emerald, and I don't like it. The wavelengths aren't gonna be the same until I get used to you. _The emerald said, snottily.

_You have to listen! They want to use you for something bad._

_Bad….good…it makes no difference anymore. If we are all meant to die, one way or another, we will. There is no bad and there is no good. You of all people should know._

_Why me?_ Miserie asked, confused.

_Because. You are bad, aren't you?_

_I'm not._

_Well. How do you know that?_ The emerald said.

_I don't…I don't do bad things._

_Things aren't 'bad'. Things aren't 'good'. There is no real definition for bad or good._

_Why are you telling me this?_

_Because you need to know this if you want to free me._

_Do you want to be free?_ Miserie soothed.

_Maybe I do, and maybe I don't._

_Let me free you. Let me show you what it's like with the people with purer hearts._

_Pure, now. Do you think you're pure?_

_I'm not pure. _Miserie sighed. _But he is._

* * *

"This is stupid!" Sonic cried, as the two hedgehogs finally knocked out the army around them.

Shadow silently agreed. He felt some strings were being pulled, and he didn't like it. "We need to get moving. We have to shut down the citadel."

"That's a good idea. But we don't know where Amy, Knuckles, or Talon are."

"Guys!" Amy yelled, and Shadow saw her across a clearing. "Hurry! This way!"

"No time to lose, I guess." Sonic said.

"…Shit." Shadow cursed.

"What?" Sonic asked.

"Talon. Oh shit, Talon has the emeralds." Shadow grimaced as he remembered when Talon told him he would watch out for the emeralds.

"HE has the emeralds?" Sonic asked.

"He could have already put them in the citadel. We have to get going fast." Shadow said, tightening his fist.

"How could we have trusted him?" Sonic asked, taking off, with Shadow catching up only seconds after.

"I don't know. I don't know anything anymore. This is bad." Shadow said. He looked at Sonic. "This is really really bad.

"Damn straight." Sonic said, under his breath. "If we don't get those emeralds back, I don't know what will happen."

* * *

"Miserie!" Tails cried, reaching for her, only to get shocked. She had stopped moving a while ago, had stopped screaming years ago. To Tails, this was an eternity. "Miserie, please!"

She didn't respond. Her green eye had long since dulled and was staring blankly at the Emerald.

_It should have been me…I must have killed her. I killed Miserie.. _Tails moaned to himself, taking a step forward.

Suddenly the electric shield that had caught Miserie broke, and in a quick move, Miserie was holding the Purple Emerald. And then she fainted.

"…Miserie!" Tails rushed over and picked her up. "…Miserie?"

"…I'm so so…sorry I…I'm…so use...less…" Miserie opened her eye a little bit, and Tails shook his head.

"You're not useless, Erie-chan." He told her, stroking back some of her fur. "Are you alright?"

"…Never…been…better." Miserie said. Then she paused. "You…you cal…led me…Erie-chan…?"

Tails smiled. "A nickname."

She looked happy. "A nick…name."

Tails put her on his back and said, "Erie-chan, let me protect you."

"…Alright." She said, softly.

"Thanks." Tails said.

* * *

Amy threw her hands in the air. "What do you mean HE'S GONE?"

"Have you seen the fox anywhere?" Shadow asked her.

"No…"

"Knuckles, have you seen Talon?" Sonic asked.

"I haven't either." Knuckles said.

"We have to find him. Now." Shadow said.

Amy looked around. "But…But…" She said, looking at the citadel. "What about that?"

"We…I…" Sonic looked at Shadow. "What do you think, Shadow?"

"Look." Shadow said. "Not to be evil, but we don't have the time to be civil about this. Knuckles, you go with Sonic and get into the thing there and find either Tails or Miserie, a Chaos Emerald, or the brains of this whole operation. Me and Amy will stay out here and search for Talon, then we'll follow you."

"Not to butt in or anything, but that wasn't really evil." Knuckles said. Shadow sneered at him.

"Look." Amy said. "The citadel, it's…" The citadel's shiny, silver cover was now duller.

"…Did you just see what I saw?" Sonic poked Shadow.

"If you mean the citadel getting considerably duller, yes."

"Guys!" Knuckles cried. "I can punch through the cover without setting off the alarm!"

Amy blinked. "My hammer could do just about the same damage. Maybe I should go with Knuckles!"

"Good idea." Sonic said. "Me and Shadow'll look for Talon."

"Then it's settled. Let's go." Shadow said.

"Wait." Knuckles said, and the trio turned to stare at him. "There has to be a reason for the alarm to go off."

"…" The group was silent.

Shadow widened his eyes. "Miserie and Tails!" He said.

"What about them?"

"THEY deactivated it! They took down the alarm!" shadow said.

"So they must be inside! They probably already have one or two emeralds!" Sonic said.

"Right. We have to hurry!"

The group of four nodded at each other. "Let's go!" They cried.

* * *

_Are you awake?_ Miserie was startled at the emerald penetrating her thoughts

_I am._ She replied.

You must have helped whomever you're working with very much.

Miserie was confused. _Why do you say that?_

_You deactivated the alarm._ The emerald laughed. _Isn't that good?_

…_Why are you acting so different?_ Miserie asked.

Oh I'm usually this way. It's your heart. It's letting me be me.

Miserie smiled. "That's good." She said out loud, and Tails looked up at her.

"What's good?"

She showed him the Emerald. "This." She said. Tails smiled.

"You had me worried." She told her, and she stared into his sapphire eyes.

"I did?" she asked.

"I was calling, but you weren't responding…Your eye got dull…I thought you died."

"Oh no." She said. She smiled. "I was afraid…but it was relaxing."

"Do you think you can walk?" Tails asked. He put her down. "You've been sleeping for a while now, and I'm kinda tired."

He stopped walking. Miserie put the emerald in her pocket and touched his shoulders. It wasn't to her surprise that he was very tense.

"…You aren't relaxed." She told him, and he nodded.

"While you were sleeping, we almost got caught three times. We're in the main trunk of the citadel now."

"…" Miserie sighed. "I don't know how to help you."

"It's alright."

"But you'll need to be relaxed."

"…I know." Tails said, and he sat down. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Miserie said.

Tails smiled. "Erie-chan," he said, looking up at her. "We're inside the citadel."

Miserie nodded. "That's right." She said.

"Do you think Sonic and everyone else is here too?"

Miserie smiled. "Maybe." She closed her eye. "Tails…"

He replied, "Yes?"

"I was right." She said. "You're pure."

"Hmm?"

"I want to be…just like you."

Tails tapped her shoulder and she opened her eye. "There's no one more pure than you, Erie-chan." He said. "Let's get going."

Miserie agreed with him. But in her head, she told herself _The purest boy in the world…_

* * *

"Ha!" Amy cried. She wiped her sweaty palms on the grass and said, "Great."

Knuckles looked around. "The trees." He muttered.

Amy looked at the trees around them, wilting. "They're dying." She murmured.

"Let's hurry. We need to get inside before they all die."

"Why?" Amy asked.

She looked at Knuckles, who had his head ducked and was finishing off the job. "Because those trees were planted by my ancestors, and I don't want them to die."

Amy widened her eyes. "Then let's do it."

* * *

"I can't believe I'm working with you." Sonic said. "I mean… not as a bad thing."

Shadow sighed. "Calm down, you." He told Sonic. "I wouldn't be working with you if this didn't concern me."

Sonic laughed. "Same old, same old."

"Don't get too comfortable." Shadow said. "We need to find that traitor and kick his two tailed ass right back to where to it belongs."

"where's that?"

"Somewhere over last week." Shadow said, nonchalantly. "Hey…did you notice that we can see straight to the end of the island?"

"The trees…"

"Why are they dying?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know. Maybe that citadel is sucking the life out of everything here!" Sonic said.

Shadow crossed his arms. "What would be the point of that if they have the emeralds?"

"We don't know how long this has been here." Sonic said. "They might not have had any emeralds when they created the citadel."

"Right. That means one thing."

"What?"

"If Talon has the Emeralds, he brought them inside. We need to get in there and stop the brains of this operation."

"Then let's move!"

* * *

Tails watched Miserie, who was cringing more and more as they started towards a new chamber.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Don't be worried! We're close!" Miserie said. "Scarlet…Scarlet is close."

"Can I touch you?" Tails asked.

"Ye…Yes." Miserie said, steeling herself. "Listen, Tails. This one is worse. They must have had Scarlet before they got Violet."

It won't get the best of us." Tails said.

"Okay." Miserie said. Tails took her hand and they inched around a corner, only to hear-

"Intruders! Intruders!"

"Uh-oh!" Tails cringed.

Miserie, however, was cool about it. "Tails, fly us up there." She pointed at a beam above them.

"What?"

"Just do it." Miserie took his hands. "Fly us up there and we won't be caught."

Tails blinked. "Okay." He said, and he spun his tails, pulling Miserie up after him.

When they were both seated on the beam, Miserie pointed. "Crimson," She said, pointing to the end of the beam on their left, "Is hidden over there."

"That's why you wanted to come up here, isn't it?" Tails asked.

"No. This was." She pointed down at the guards. The foxes were all looking at each other, confused.

"Whoa!" Tails said, shaking his head. "That's Talon!"

And it was. Talon, standing in between all the guards, not looking half as confused as the rest of the guards.

"This is an order. You will find the girl. Kill the boy, but bring the girl to me." Talon said.

"Roger." The guards said.

"…He's after you." Tails said.

Miserie's eyes were narrowed. "But why?"

* * *

"Amy, get out of here NOW." Knuckles said, as he protected her from the falling pieces of the citadel.

"I can't leave you, Knuckles!" Amy cried. They had penetrated the citadel together, but they caused an explosion to go off in the root they had entered through.

"you can, will, and better." Knuckles said, before heaving a boulder of waste at a piece of falling compressed metal. The two clanged in midair and destroyed each other.

"But"

"GO." Knuckles said. Amy's lip trembled, but she started running anyway, deeper into the citadel.

"I won't leave you here, Knuckles! I'll be back!" Amy ran through the chaos that was being caused and into the citadel's depths.

By herself, Amy wasn't sure which way to go. Knuckles had known where he was heading, but Amy had no idea. Besides that, she couldn't rely on his strength anymore. She was alone, and so not loving it.

"What are we looking for?" Amy heard a voice. She looked for a place to hide, finally curling up behind a fallen piece of junk.

"The girl. The one that we had caught with that hedgehog."

"What…? The runt?"

"Yes. She has a special power."

"What is it?"

"She can sense the emeralds. She's actually an emerald herself. That's why we sensed so much power from that spaceship."

"She caused it?"

"Yes. Our top priority is to find the girl and strap her into the final cannon."

"What would that do?"

"We all know each emerald represents a different power. I wonder which she will enhance."

Amy widened her eyes. Miserie was a walking Chaos Emerald, and they were after her! _Gotta find Knuckles. Gotta let him know._

* * *

So much is happening! Will our heroes be able to pull together and save the day? 


	48. File 10 Entry 3 The Going Gets Tough

**The Maria Files**

**Author's Note:** I'm so sowwies! I went on vacation. Please don't kill meeeee! Remember, I said you guys were awesome! –still runs for cover-

I'm mad at myself for this chapter. I find it confusing. I redid it at least six times. And this isn't even good yet. Grr.

_File 10 This Is Where it All Ends_

_Entry 3 When the going gets tough, the tough pack their bags and head for the hills_

* * *

Fly like the Wind. Fly like the Wind.

"I've gotta get Knuckles…but how…?" Amy muttered, unsure of which way she was going to go. "I could wait here. I could go forward without him…"

"Amy!" She heard Sonic's voice. Or was she dreaming? "Amy! Psst! Over here!"

She looked around, finally spotting Sonic waving frantically from behind a pole. Shadow was too, holding up a Chaos Emerald.

"Guys!" She hissed. "Did you hear?"

Sonic looked confused. "We just got here!" he whispered.

"Miserie is a Chaos Emerald! They plan on strapping her to the machine!"

Shadow shrugged. Sonic looked at him and said something, and Shadow just smirked.

"Let's go!" Sonic mouthed to Amy. Then he paused. "where's Knuckles?"

Amy pointed. "He told me to go…I left him behind."

Shadow nodded. He said something to Sonic, who looked surprised, then nodded. Both hedgehogs made a dash over to Amy.

"Get going." Shadow told Sonic. "I'll be better off helping Knuckles anyway. We'll cause the distraction, just find that traitor."

Amy blinked. "but Shadow…"

Sonic agreed. "Find your way to the middle." He said, "If they don't catch you, I mean."

"Don't think I'd be so stupid." Shadow said. "I will get to the middle. No doubt about that."

Fly like the Wind. Fly like the Wind.

"Amy…what are you doing?" Sonic asked, as they stealthily ran up a flight of stairs.

"I'm…I'm…" Amy stopped thinking and realized she had collapsed. "I'm okay. I'm just worried…Can Shadow and Knuckles make it to the middle…?"

Sonic grinned. "They're two stubborn guys. They'll do it."

"you're right." Amy said. but…would they do it?

* * *

Miserie, in her head, was calculating. If she went to get the emerald now, would Talon know she was here? What was Scarlet protecting or doing?

"What do you think, Erie-chan?"

"We can't get Scarlet until we're positive he's far away." Miserie said. "Since Violet cut the security on the outside, we know that Scarlet has to be controlling something on the inside. But what?"

Tails looked thoughtful. "The Emerald has to be…Has to be controlling…Controlling…" he looked around, finally settling his eyes on a dim red glow beneath them. "The tripwires in here."

"Trip wires…." Miserie stared down at the red glow with him.

"That's the one we hit. It looks like they didn't build good ones, since we can see them from up here."

"So…there are more of them?"

"Yeah, probably. They're invisible when you're on the same floor with them, but if you're above them, you can see them." Tails said. "We should stay up here until you can find the last emerald."

"Listen." Miserie pointed at Talon, who was talking into his headphone set.

"….The girl…" he said, clearly. "She's not dangerous by herself. But with that boy, she's got potential. When I spied on them… I realized it." He was silent. "Yes. I know." He paused again. "But I couldn't help it. Besides….she is an Emerald." He was silent again. "Roger that."

Miserie knew that she was 'The Girl'. She inched her way across the beam, heading to her left, towards Scarlet.

Talon spoke again. "If you find the prince…Annihilate. Rosemary won't know the difference."

Miserie looked at Tails, whose eyes widened in disbelief.

"I don't like him." Miserie said.

"Did you ever?" Tails asked.

Miserie shook her head. "We should keep moving."

They watched as Talon turned and left. Then, they scurried like mice towards the seconds emerald, Scarlet.

Miserie could barely see out of her one eye. She had to stay focused on her step, which was crucial, but she was also standing in front of Tails, who was worried about her hesitant movements.

"…Tails, go ahead of me. I can't see."

Tails replied, "I can't fly here."

"…" Miserie stared at the ground. "We're wasting time."

"It's alright." Tails said. "Just get to the emerald."

"Okay."

* * *

"Knuckles!" Shadow stared into the wreck that Knuckles had caused. "What the hell did you do?"

No answer. Shadow started jumping through the disaster to the other side.

"Shad…" He heard a weak voice, and he turned. Knuckles was there, half crushed by a couple large rocks.

Shadow looked at the rocks critically, before asking, "Are you alright?"

"I saved myself, but barely." Knuckles said, breathless.

Shadow eyed Knuckles' position. One hand was trapped beneath him, and the other gripping the surface. His legs and half of his torso were under the rocks. "I'll get you out of there…somehow. I just need to find a weak spot."

* * *

Tails and Miserie had made it to Scarlet….or so Miserie called it.

Miserie still wouldn't look up. She was looking at her footing, which didn't seem secure. She reach back and took his hand. "…Please don't let me fall." She muttered.

"you won't fall. Promise." Tails said.

She looked up. With a sigh of relief, she proclaimed, "Scarlet!"

Tails smiled. Miserie looked back down and move her feet slowly and surely forward again. Tails followed her slow movements to the Emerald.

"I'm going to get it."

"I'm coming with you." Tails told her, and she smiled.

"You don't have to." She said.

"But I don't want you to go through all that pain again."

"You'll go through it too." She said.

"I know." He said. They both stepped into the shrine.

Nothing happened.

"What's this?" Miserie asked. Tails reach out for the emerald, but Miserie pushed his hand back. "Look." She put her hand on his. "Cool, right?" He nodded. She held her hand out for a second, then touched him again. "Hot now, isn't it?"

Surprised, Tails asked, "How did you know?"

Miserie pointed. "It's that thing." She said, and Tails followed her finger.

"That…that's an infrared laser transmitter." Tails said. "The only way we'll know where the lasers are pointing is if we use smoke to detect them. How many do you think there are?"

"I can see three. But we can't be sure."

"We have to think of something…something that will smoke."

"…" Miserie looked at Tails for a second. Then, she got an idea. She pulled some fur off the end of her tail and held it up to the heat. She could smell the smoke as her fur burned, and Tails got the idea.

"That was a good idea." Tails said. Miserie nodded, her stomach feeling awfully queasy.

Tails started reaching through the red beams to the Emerald. He almost reach the Emerald, but he was stopped by a severe shock. "What…?"

Miserie looked confused. "Double security!" she muttered.

"What now?" Tails asked, feeling the fur on his arm prickling. Miserie pushed her arm through next to Tails' and grabbed his hand.

"Endure the pain." Miserie said, slowly. And with that, they both got shocked at they pushed their hand through the shield to reach the emerald.

* * *

Knuckles was too slow, Shadow knew, because of the rocks crushing him.

_Jeez, this guy is an oaf._ Shadow said to himself. _And I'll be damned if I say oaf again._

But, Shadow was enjoying the attention they were drawing by punching through every wall.

"Is this a good idea?" Knuckles asked.

"No, obviously." Shadow said. "But keep doing it. It's entertaining."

Knuckles glared at him. "Look, we have guards chasing us."

"That's the point of this operation. Can you pound walls any faster?"

"This is an operation?"

"Operation GET ATTENTION." Shadow said. "Not too hard, eh?"

"I don't get it."

"You don't?" Shadow sighed. "Look. Pound through walls, get guards after us, let others find emeralds. It's a DONE DEAL."

"That's your plan?" Knuckles eyed Shadow's emerald. "Hey, when did you"

"It works. Hurry up." Shadow ignored Knuckles andpointed at a guard behind them. "Chaos Spear!"

"I'm not sure if that's a good plan."

"Excuse me for actually thinking up a plan."

Knuckles sighed. "We'll be going around in circles."

"When we find a stair case, we'll go up. Better?" Shadow asked.

* * *

Amy muttered something about nonsense as she and Sonic dashed through another hallway.

"What?" Sonic asked.

"Nothing," Amy said, and she smiled. Sonic looked somewhat confused, but he shrugged, then took her hand.

"Come on. We're going there!" He laughed and pointed up at rafter.

"WHAT!" Amy cried.

When they made it up, Sonic looked around. "Looks safe."

Amy looked down. "Check it out." She breathed.

Talon was running beneath them. "They're doing what now?" A pause. "Well, stop them!" Again, a pause. "I don't care what you have to do. That Hedgehog must die!"

"Shadow…?" Amy looked at Sonic.

"Has to be. But Knuckles is the only one who can reactivate the Master Emerald. Killing him is ensuring your death."

"Hey, that reminds me. Shadow had an emerald…where did you…?"

"Oh." Sonic grinned. "Well, see, accidentally, this fox guard fired at us, and he blasted through this wall… The emerald was way in the back. He started calling for all this back-up, and we just…" He was interrupted.

"Two emeralds…? Gone? Check the last one! Go!" Talon yelped.

Amy tugged on Sonic's arm. "Sonic…" She murmured.

"We can't waste anymore time, Amy!" He said. "We have to hurry. From up here… we should be bale to spot them!"

"What if we're too late..?" Amy wondered.

"We won't be." Sonic reassured her. To her surprise, he said, suddenly, "Amy, you're always good at finding me…Now, can't you help me find my best friend…?"

She stared at him, studying him. He was serious…He wanted to find Tails more than anything. Amy nodded. "I'll do…the best I can!"

Sonic smiled. "I knew I could count on you." She was immediately filled with pride. Sonic trusted her. He really did.

"Hurry! Get to the rafters!" Talon cried.

"The rafters?" Sonic grinned. "There must be a party up here."

"Do you think…this is the hiding place for the last emerald?" Amy asked excitedly.

"And where it is…" Sonic prompted.

"Tails and Miserie are!" Amy said, with a wicked smirk. She had a good idea where to start looking, and she had plenty of experience in finding people she needed when she needed them…she never had to look twice.

* * *

Miserie felt time slowing down around her. Two shocks to her system, she was already dizzy and only her connection to Tails was keeping her sane.Is it too much? 

She jumped at Scarlet's voiceless words. _I'm…I'm going to set you free!_ She said, determined.

_We're going to set you free._ Violet gently reminded her.

_Yes. _Miserie said, her head spinning. _We will set you free._

The shield around them flared, a power that Miserie could feel chilling her to the bone. _I am the last of all the emeralds here. I will not be taken out by a mere child._

Miserie heard something, someone. And then, deafening silence. _…I have to save you._

Her name. Wasn't that her name that she heard? She was so numb, so blind. Was She still holding onto Tails?

_You will not win._ Scarlet told her. _I'm stronger than the rest. Much stronger. You will not win, child._

"I can't…" Miserie thought aloud. "I won't… I have to…save you."

_You're losing control, aren't you?_ Scarlet said.

Violet rose its power too, and Miserie's world of pain subsided. A shield! _Fight harder, Miserie!_

"I'm trying!" She cried, her head splitting. In a second, wouldn't she be dead?

"That's why I made you, you know." The professor? 

"_Why did you make me?" That was her, Miserie._

"_To help. To save Shadow from himself. To save everyone from themselves."_

"_But I thought…I was a Chaos field generator. Isn't that bad?"_

"…_If you turn out that way, then yes. The damage you cause will be catastrophic."_

"_What if I'm not bad?"_

"_Then you'll save the world."_

"_Will I, professor?"_

"_You will." The professor's voice began to fade. "That's why I made you. To help. To help our world."_

"…I can't give up yet." She said to herself. Violet's power was subsiding. If she didn't think quickly, she would be succumbing to Scarlet.

Then again, if she could transfer violet's diminishing energy into her body, then use it to suck up Scarlet's booming power, she might be able to override Scarlet…but at the cost of her life. Her body hadn't ever experienced such exploding power…she could not imagine living after being hit with it. Was she supposed to survive…to save the world?

Opening her eyes, she could faintly see blue, pink, yellow blobs behind her. She was alone. Tails had let go. It must have been Scarlet's doing… the blue and pink where holding him back. Sonic and Amy..?

_I am here._ Violet faltered. The two Chaos emeralds were still dueling.

"Put…put down your shield, Violet." Miserie told the emerald. "…Lend me your power, please."

Violet didn't think. It did as it was asked. Faintly she could hear the question… "What is she doing?"

She didn't think. She just answered. "I'm saving the world."

* * *

Oh dear, will Miserie die? Scary!


	49. File 10 Entry 4 Ultimate Price

**The Maria Files**

Author's note: This is getting difficult because I mixed up. Darn it.

_File 10 This is Where it All Ends_

_Entry 4 The Ultimate Price for the Ultimate Weapon

* * *

_

Tails fought against Amy and Sonic. "She's hurt!" he whimpered.

"Tails!" Amy cried, pulling back against the little fox's strength. "What's gotten into you?"

"…" Sonic knew. He hadn't said a word about it. Didn't Amy know…? Tails loved her.

When Tails had heard Miserie answer his question, he had gotten a bad feeling. As if maybe… But he had shaken away his next thought. She was burning up. The lasers around her, they were just…searing away at her fur. She was going to burn!

A thump behind them…? Sonic and Amy suddenly had a new surge of strength.

"you want her safe, right, Tails?" Sonic said. "Then help us get rid of these guards!"

Tails looked up and grimaced at the large group of guards in front of him. This was not his day.

* * *

"I don't think the plan is working." Knuckles blamed.

"Shut up and climb, you imbecile." Shadow pushed Knuckles up their third flight of stairs.

"I'm climbing, I'm climbing." Knuckles said, moving even slower. Shadow sighed. Only what felt like hours ago, Guards started pulling out. Shadow had decided to follow them, but Knuckles, who saved himself by a margin, couldn't climb a staircase. "Shadow."

"What?" Shadow asked irritably. "Move faster, you worthless echidna."

Knuckles slowed down on purpose. "I was going to say something nice, but…" He growled.

"Fine." Shadow said. "I'm sorry." He spat.

Knuckles smiled and started moving faster. "You changed since the last time we met."

"Don't get used to it, echidna."

"My name is Knuckles."

"I know that!" Shadow snapped, pushing Knuckles unceremoniously onto the fourth floor. "Let's go."

Knuckles stood up and winced. "Which way?"

Shadow looked around. He could smell burning fur. "What the…" he asked.

"That smell…" Knuckles said.

"It's from over there." Shadow said, pointing to his left. Knuckles took a step and a blaring alarm went off. "**Hell** no." Shadow said loudly, and He pulled Knuckles towards a ladder. "We're going this way."

* * *

Sucking it in. All this energy. All this energy…she would explode!

Miserie felt beyond anything she had ever felt before. As if she was soaring…

The sounds behind her were behind her, way behind her. She couldn't hear them anymore. She was so close. She was going to reach it…Ultimate power!

But she faltered. She couldn't use the ultimate power…she wasn't the ultimate being…she was…the generator and he was…

Shadow was…

She needed Shadow! He was the one who could channel all this energy and make good of it! But without him…She would explode.

Tears now. They dissolved before they escaped her eyes. She was too hot. She would die soon.

She was calling to Shadow, but could her hear her?

She called Tails. Then Amy. Then Sonic. Then Knuckles. In despair, she called for Talon too. She need someone to contact Shadow! He was too far away!

Ultimate power was reachable with two emeralds…to super charge it, she needed three. To cause a nuclear explosion, four. To supernova, five. To implode, six. And to destroy galaxies…seven. Shadow didn't know that. Otherwise, the ultimate life form would have destroyed the world years ago. But Miserie had just learned her fate…

The Ultimate power…how much longer could she hold it?

* * *

Amy slammed her hammer down, causing a quake. Talon steadied himself.

"You trusted me," He sneered. "You bought my story, hook, line, and sinker."

Tails was angry. "You lied to us." He said, almost too calmly. Amy remembered that Tails, when he got too angry, became so calm it was scary.

Sonic was raging though. "He played us…so many times!"

Talon looked over their shoulders. "…Almost finished." He said, with a smile. "Soon, she'll have the energy we need…and we'll harness it and purge this land!"

Amy turned backwards. The girl fox she had once known…the black fox with green eyes… She had changed. She was a pure white color, the scar over her eye had turned completely black.

"…!" Tails said.

"You're lucky to be seeing this!" Talon said. "Since you're going to die, let me just tell you want's going on!" He laughed. "You see, Miserie's blood is made with the shards of that red chaos emerald! Somehow, that allows her to harness all the energy she needs inside of her…and this energy is enough to destroy you all! But we weren't sure if Miserie was the one! So we made an android of Master Robotnik and"

"You mean, EGGMAN?" Sonic gaped.

Tails nodded. "That must be it…" He said. "They used it to spy on Miserie and Shadow."

"Due to the Professor's description of Miserie, we knew she had to be the one. But we needed to get her here… with someone monitoring the movements…And I, Major Talon of C Squad…"

"You tricked us!" Amy cried. "By fooling us with that phony story… you could tell what we were going to do!"

"And I told Rosemary…I told her everything!" Talon laughed. "What's my reward? Her, of course. I can keep the little fox girl after I kill you!"

Tails was so deadly calm Amy could feel cool air rising from him. "How are you going to live?" He asked. So quiet…Amy had to lean in to hear it.

"Me?" Talon grinned again. "Well, I'm nowhere near this. You're talking to a projection."

"A projection…?" Amy recalled him steadying himself. "But…?"

"I'm a fox! Cunning and swift! I could say less for you, Prince Miles."

Tails wasn't fazed. He was smiling. "…It won't work." He said.

"…?" Talon asked, and he laughed. "Wishful thinking won't help you, Prince!"

"…Wishful isn't quite it." Tails said, still soft. "It's…" He grinned now. "Shadow."

"Shadow…?" Talon's image asked.

"You're damned right, you lowlife." Shadow sneered. Amy looked behind the guards… And there was Shadow and Knuckles.

"How did…?" Sonic looked at Tails.

"I saw Knuckles. And I figured he'd be with him. Shadow and Miserie…they were created together. So Maybe…Shadow can stop this."

Shadow grinned. "This will be no problem." He said. But Amy was worried.

If Sahdow didn't do what he had to do right, they would all be dead!

* * *

If Shadow doesn't figure out how to get the Ultamite power, will everyone die...? 


	50. File 10 Entry 5 Suteki da Ne?

**The Maria Files**

Author's Note: This is it! And it sucked, I'm sorry. But don't hurt me, okay! I STILL THINK YOU'RE ALL AWESOME!…so yeah, I'm safe.

Enjoy the last Entry of the Last file of the Finally completed Maria Files!

**File 10 This is Where it All Ends**

_Entry 5 Suteki da Ne (Isn't it Beautiful?)

* * *

_

Her breathing…So slow now. She was suffocating, burning, drowning, stabbed, shot, strangled…by the power she was bottling up. Too much…too much! But she couldn't back out.

The place…was so pretty. Where was she again? _Oh, that's right…here._ She said to herself.

So slow now.

Everything was so lovely here. She wanted to go and see more.

So slow now.

If she could stop the pain…if she could stop the ripping…the tearing of her soul. All to pieces soon. And then she would be gone.

So slow now.

She was reaching for it. She wanted it. She could feel it.

Stopping…now.

* * *

Shadow had no idea what to do. What was Miserie doing? He couldn't get through the guards and she might be…

"…" Knuckles had been studying Shadow's passive face for a while. No one was fighting. Everyone was still. The news was so shocking, enemies were friends, friends were enemies…bodies were empty shells. Everyone was going to die, unless they figured out how to move that immense power surging up within Miserie. "…You're worried about something." Knuckles said.

"Look." Shadow said, impatiently. "I need to help her. I have to. You know what? She's probably lost right now. I'm not going to sit here and let her kill herself and everyone here. That's stupid."

"Then why don't you go?" Knuckles wondered aloud.

Shadow hung his head. "…Who knows." He couldn't fathom what he was feeling right now. It wasn't anger. Wasn't pain. He had only felt this once or twice before…

"Are you…" Knuckles waved a hand in the air, making it seem as if he were guessing. "Afraid of something?"

"Shut up." Shadow growled. Yes, that was it. Fear.

"Maybe you're afraid you can't do anything. Or afraid you'll die."

"Did you even hear me?"

"But even though you're afraid, shouldn't you at least try?…Tails says you might be able to stop her. So…"

"What part of Shut up aren't you understanding, you stupid echidna?" Shadow asked, looking at Knuckles, who was grinning knowingly.

"Are you going to try anyway?"

"You're getting on my nerves." Shadow said. But he nodded. "I'm going to kill you, you know."

"I'm waiting." Knuckles said nonchalantly.

Shadow sighed. He wasn't sure what he was afraid of. Maybe it wasn't what, but who…Nah, Shadow wasn't afraid of someone, it was something. As he slowly made his way through the guards, he wondered, _Is it the sacrifice?_

So slow now.

He was standing in front of Tails, who was speaking softly. Shadow had never seen the little fox look and sound so dangerous…he liked it. It made Tails seem older.

So slow now.

Past Tails to Amy. She wasn't paying much attention to anything. Her eyes were frantic, but they were moving so slowly from one person to the next, to the next, to the next…

So slow now.

Past Amy to Sonic. Sonic was staring directly at Shadow. He smirked, identical to Shadow's.

"…Funny that you want to save the world again."

"Funny that I haven't killed you yet."

Sonic laughed. "You notice something…? We keep having to work together."

"Two times. It's just a coincidence."

"Oh yeah?" Sonic asked.

"There won't be a next time." Shadow said, nodding his head.

"I'll hold you to it." Sonic said.

"What do I get if I win?" Shadow asked.

"You'll never have to see me again." Sonic said.

"I could just cover my eyes when I see you."

"Okay, what do you want?"

"If I win this…" Shadow grinned, "I get to knock off the Doctor once and for all."

"Guess we will be seeing each other again." Sonic said.

"Keep dreaming." Shadow shrugged. He started walking again.

So slow now….Stopping.

* * *

Blue, white, yellow, pale pink… Then black, red, gray, orange…Then azure, mint, peach, and lemon…Then black, navy, crimson, and marigold…

Where was she now? Heaven? Hell? Purgatory…? Somewhere else? Miserie reach out to touch the colors and they were…so cool.

Or maybe she was too hot. She couldn't tell.

Dry, it was so dry. She looked up, and she was in a blue and white and pink desert. She turned, and she was in a black, purple, and sienna forest. Where was she? The colors were confusing her. Where was she headed?

Something touched her, but she couldn't feel it well. She turned.

"…?" She looked around. Nothing? She was dragging now. The power was so heavy, she couldn't walk. She had no idea how she was standing. And then, on her shoulders, she could feel it this time. A pull.

They were pulling her away from the lovely place and through the confusing colors and back, and back… She was watching things pass her that she had never seen before. And then she realized….

The power was leaving her body.

But…That could only mean Shadow was there, and if Shadow was there… She wasn't dead yet. She was so close. On the brink. About to be torn to shreds.

Her body was limp, and power still flowed from it. She was creating it? She couldn't tell.

"Miserie?"

That voice was…?

"Maria?" She asked.

"Shadow." It responded.

"Shadow?" She asked. Faintly, she remembered… That was the same thing that happened when she first met Shadow. The same thing. Just different roles.

* * *

Shadow had touched her shoulder, felt a shock run through her system and let go. He had tried again, and successfully awoke her.

"Miserie?" He asked, looking down at her. He couldn't recognize her. Her fur was white, her eye was dull. She was looking at him, but was she seeing him? He didn't think so.

"…Maria?" She asked, and he shook his head. Wasn't that what he said to her when they had just met?

"Shadow." He told her, and her mouth twitched. She must have recognized him.

"Shadow?" She asked. Her fur was changing. It was gray now. Before, she had been so dazzlingly white. Now she was dulling like her eye was.

"Yes?" He asked calmly. He realized he was turning white now. He was draining her of the power she had just had.

"…I'm so tired." She said. She was quickly turning black. Her scar was gray.

"You're all beat up." Shadow observed, noticing that her arm was bleeding. She was still shaking and jumping.

"but you have it now." She said, as if she wasn't listening.

"It?" Shadow wondered aloud. He noticed she was almost pitch black. Her eye was glinting brightly.

"The power, right? It's the ultimate power. The ultimate power for the ultimate being." Shadow blinked. "It could be more. I could make more."

"No." Shadow said, realizing he was going to kill her if he kept sucking the power away. He turned around, where the trio he could now call- dare he say it- friends stood, waiting. There was Tails, looking more worried than ever.

"No?" She asked.

"You should sleep now. You're tired, aren't you?" He started walking towards them.

"Yes."

"Then sleep." He said. He could see Knuckles now; Sonic must have helped him over. The fourth friend.

"But…" She said, her body jerked, as if she was waking up.

"Miserie, if you don't sleep, I'll force you to sleep." He said. He was standing in front of Tails. Shadow was about to had her over to him and leave, but Miserie said, suddenly:

"Shadow?"

He looked at her. Smiling? What was this, was she planning on killing herself? "What!" He asked.

"…" She was gone. Out like a light.

Shadow watched her dull eye close. She was way past pitch black now.

"What's wrong with her?" Tails asked.

Shadow sighed. "I took it. Her power."

"Her power?"

"She's an emerald. Remember?" Shadow asked. And then, with a grimace he said, "I'm going to go beat down that fox and the Doctor."

"Wait a minute!" Sonic said. He grabbed Shadow's arm. "I've got to go too."

Shadow smirked. "Well, I can't protect you. If you die, that just means I'm better than you."

"Yeah right. When I beat Eggman, I'll make sure your coffin is delivered right to Ark."

"Hmph. Really." Shadow inspected his arm. "I'll have yours rocketed to the sun. After all, we both know I'm the one who'll beat the doctor." He said. With that, He Chaos Controlled.

* * *

Amy and Tails waited. And waited. Time was passing so slow now. Knuckles was stretching impatiently.

"So…" Amy had talked about everything she could without bordering on Miserie. But now, she was running out of topics.

"Huh?" Tails asked, looking down at Miserie.

Amy tried to think of something else. "Isn't it amazing that no one's fighting?"

Knuckles piped in. "You said that already."

"…Uh…" Amy looked at her hands.

Tails smiled. "You don't have to say anything."

"But!" Amy started to say. Miserie sat up, suddenly. Instantly, her eye opened.

"!" She said, turning her head. Amy was confused. Miserie had been completely knocked out. How was she awake?

"What's…this?" Knuckles asked.

"It's…"Miserie reach into a pocket and pulled out the purple emerald. "The power source. It's fully charged. Violet says we can take Crimson if we shut of that power source."

"No, I mean… how are you awake?" Knuckles asked. Amy nodded. Miserie just smiled.

"Power source?" Tails wondered.

"They were storing power, it said. At the bottom. Way at the bottom."

Amy looked at the guards around them, who were sitting around looking dull. Amy couldn't shake the feeling that they were listening and planning.

"What about them?" Amy asked.

Tails put Miserie down on the floor, got up, and picked her up, securing her on his back. "We have to get to the"

"Power source?" Amy glared at the voice's owner. There was Talon, smirking knowingly.

"Talon." Knuckles said, his voice loud.

"Is he real this time?" Amy wondered aloud.

Miserie rose one hand. "We don't have the time for this." She said.

Amy looked at Tails. He was seething, she could tell. His hands were clenched.

"You mean, I don't have time for this." Talon said. He jumped down, in front of Tails.

Tails' voice was soft again. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Talon laughed.

Miserie's eye narrowed. "…Chaos…Sphere." She said, holding her hand out in front of him. Talon was sent sprawling backwards.

"He's real!" Amy said, and she lifted her hammer. "In this case, let's kill the stupid little"

"Wait!" Knuckles and Miserie said, together.

"We can use him." Knuckles said. "To get to the power source."

Miserie nodded. "We can control him. Tails…" she whispered.

Tails looked back at Miserie. "Huh?" He asked.

"Are you mad?" She asked, her eye glinting.

"I'm…" Tails paused, looking back at Talon.

"Don't be mad at him." She told Tails. "I don't think he can help it. It's because he's retarded, isn't it?"

Amy smiled. "That's it."

* * *

Shadow glared up at the Doctor, who was looking down on them with an all knowing smile. He was atop a silvery pedestal, pressing buttons.

"Eggman!" Sonic yelled.

"Well, if it isn't Sonic!" Eggman laughed evilly. "It's high time I got rid of you once and for all! Guards!"

Shadow lifted his hand, blasting the bottom half of the pedestal away. "You're the one we're here for." He said, dangerously quiet. "You're the one who tried to kill all of us, who put Miserie in real danger… You're the one who going to be rid of…" his voice had been growing progressively louder, and now dropped back to his soft tone, "We're going to send you two doors down from hell."

Sonic pointed at Eggman, who was already flying around in his little machine. "so let's see what you've got, Eggman!"

The guards who Eggman had called for appeared, Foxes who had discarded their weapons, who were in tears, nearly. Shadow recognized them- they were the guards who were supposed to be with the four they had left behind.

Sonic whispered, "We can't fight them…"

"Yes, we can." Shadow rose his hand, with a trademark evil smirk.

"Wait a minute!" Sonic said. "They were under command of Rosemary! They don't have control of what they do!"

"Don't ever soil my name, hedgehog… Do not say it. It pains me that I should hear it from one as defiled as you." Shadow's ears perked at the sound of the voice of Tails' mother.

Sonic growled, turning to face her. "So it's you again."

Eggman pressed a button. "You won't escape! I'll kill you both!"

The guards and Rosemary jolted backwards. Screams of agony painted the walls, Shadow actually felt bad- though he didn't know why- for the poor foxes. He didn't feel bad seconds later, when they were attacking them. Rosemary ordered from above, calling out names and sections and formations, shooting tiny poisonous darts down at Sonic and Shadow.

Shadow's first thought was to protect himself, but he remembered that Sonic was there with him. All of a sudden, he decided that Sonic was the one who really needed the protection. He grabbed the blue Hedgehog's shoulder.

Sonic exploded into his Super Form, but Shadow wasn't sure why- why hadn't he done so before? Still, with Sonic in Super Sonic form, They had a fighting chance…. For a while.

"We can't hurt them!" Sonic told shadow.

Growling, Shadow whisked up half of them in a Tornado strike. "Better?"

"Yes." Sonic mimicked his actions. Still, the army wasn't down and out. Guns were risen, pointed at the two super speedy super heroes.

"…Oh…" Shadow started.

"Crap." Sonic finished.

* * *

"You have to trust me, I swear, I'm telling the truth this time!" Talon yelled.

"BS." Amy said, rolling her eyes.

Knuckles, who was dragging along behind Amy, who was keeping Talon in line by slamming her hammer into his kneecap when he tried to escape, said, "Are we near it yet?"

"I won't tell you!" Talon yelled.

"I guess we can just kill him." Miserie sighed. All four creatures stared at her.

"…Are you Miserie?" Tails wondered.

She looked down at him and winked. Tails widened his eyes. He realized that she was playing a game, just trying to scare Talon into telling the truth. "You're serious." He mumbled.

"Of course I'm serious." Miserie said. Tails looked over at Talon. The hazel fox was shivering like a leaf in the wind.

Amy grinned. "I am all for this idea."

Knuckles started, "Well…"

"Come on, Knuckles…" Tails said. "We don't need him anyway."

"You're right. Let's kill him."

"No! No, please! I don't wanna die!" Talon cried, big tears leaking out of his eyes.

"Gonna tell us where the power source is?" Amy asked, a smirk crossing her face.

"Yes, okay? I'll tell you!" Talon said, and Tails looked up at Miserie, who held a hand up over her mouth. She was laughing, her trick had worked.

"So are we close?" Knuckles wondered.

"Yes! We're really close!" Talon exclaimed.

"Don't try anything FUNNY, Talon. We'll kill you." Amy said, using the threat casually. Talon nodded, and Tails heard his audible gulp.

* * *

Sonic and Shadow could dodge the bullets, thanks to their speed, but Eggman had expected that, creating bullets that twisted in mid-air.

Sonic was having a problem. Even as Super Sonic, he was barely able to see the twisting movement of the bullets. Shadow was the one saving him, Shadow's ultimate form allowed him to see, Sonic figured, all the bullets whizzing around them.

Eggman's sinister laughed made Sonic get even more pissed off. He didn't know what he would do, but he had to get Eggman!

And suddenly, everything pieced itself together. Because he knew the secret to beating Eggman.

But he would need time. Lots of it.

And time was running out.

* * *

Breathing deeply, Miserie realized how distorted her vision was. She was still critically damaged, there was no possible way she could help anymore. And all the games she had learned to play- the mind games, the hand games- the ones that Gerald had programmed over everything else, but still she had forgotten, all those were returning to her.

Little things that she had no idea she remembered, those returned. She was remembering Maria.

'You're so cute, Miserie-chan! You're like a little sister!' Maria. Miserie wasn't sure how old she was. Shadow was there too, somewhere in the background… oblivious.

'_A little sister?' Miserie wondered, as Maria gently petted her fur. 'Am I your little sister?'_

'_Yes. You're my favorite little sister. You always will be.'_

_Miserie smiled as Shadow turned around. But before she could say anything, she was picked up by the professor and shuffled out of the room_

…And that was the last time she was alive.

"Erie-chan?" Tails wondered aloud. She tried to focus.

"Tails?" she asked.

"You're mumbling something. Are you alright?" She could guess at the worried look her had on his face. "Do you want to rest?"

"I'll be…I'm fine." She smiled. Her energy was way down. She could barely stay awake now. If, by chance, she fell asleep, would she shut down again…? Forever?

She fought to stay awake. This sort of sleep, the kind that she was going to experience again, she wished she never had to deal with.

Just like Shadow didn't.

* * *

"Shadow…" Sonic said, as Shadow blasted past him, saving him again. "You can see the bullets, right?"

"Yeah." Shadow said, hardly paying attention.

Sonic twisted out of the way of two more bullets, and then whispered, "Do you know how to change their direction?"

Shadow didn't reply for a couple minutes. "Show me." He said, as he saved Sonic again.

Sonic grinned. "It's simple." He said. He pointed to a rally of bullets coming their way. "Like this." He flipped over, creating a barrier that turned the bullets backwards. With Tails' help, he had created this move years ago, but never found a real use for it. Of course, this was while G.U.N. was chasing him down.

Shadow widened his eyes. "If you can do that, then so can I." He said.

"Let's see it." Sonic taunted.

Shadow studied Sonic again, then copied his attack perfectly. "I told you so." He said.

"Well, can't you make a bigger one?"

Shadow paused, then did a slightly larger barrier. "Yep." He said.

"Then make the biggest one you can." Sonic said.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "I'm tired of protecting you." He commented, as he made the biggest barrier yet. Sonic dashed out towards Eggman in total safety.

"Hey Eggman!" He yelled, jumping into his trademark SpinDash. "Get Dead!"

Eggman's expression was priceless, as Sonic shot through his flying machine. The soldiers that were attacking stopped.

Rosemary suddenly fell over, catching herself before she hit the ground. A shock pulsed through her system, one, two, three times, causing her to cry out. Some of the other officers and cadets were doing the same. Everyone's eyes were riveted upon Rosemary, however.

"Your majesty!" One of the foxes gasped.

The room was silent. Sonic could hear nothing. The silence deafened him.

Shadow suddenly spoke up. "What was that." He said, more a statement than a question. "Why did they stop attacking."

Sonic shrugged his shoulders, but Shadow wasn't paying attention to him. He was cornering Eggman. Step by step, Shadow's usually small form seemed to grow larger and larger.

"…What was it, Doctor?" he asked, his voice low. "Exactly what did you do?"

Eggman was backing up, muttering things.

"…What's that?" Shadow asked. His voice rose. "What did you do to them?"

Eggman was in a corner. Shadow was looming over him.

"Well?" Shadow's voice was only a murmur in the otherwise silent room.

Eggman was frantically pressing a button, but the remote he was trying to activate was failing. Sonic smirked. This was coming out interesting.

Shadow snatched the remote away, crushing it in his hand. "I don't show mercy, you know." Shadow said.

Sonic snorted. '_When it comes to Miserie…_' He thought.

Eggman spoke up. "Do you think you've won, Shadow?"

And then the lights went out.

* * *

Amy was relieved when she found them right in front of the power core.

"Finally!" She said. Knuckles, who had long since collapsed on his weakened knees, was propping himself up with her hammer. Tails was keeping Miserie, who looked very tired, busy with nonsensical chatter. Talon was practically crying. Amy had been prodding him along with her fingers.

"How do we stop the power core?" Miserie asked. Amy noted her fleeting voice. She sounded much more mechanical, like Omega had. She still had the adorable voice, but…

Talon crossed his arms. "You don't." He said, confidently.

Miserie rose her hand. "Why don't we kill him now?" She asked.

Talon shook his head. "I knew that was a bluff. I'm not dumb." He said.

"Oh?" Amy wondered, gently taking her hammer back from Knuckles. "I was kinda hoping you'd see it our way."

"Yeah right." Talon laughed. "If you destroy this power core, you'll kill Shadow and Sonic. Do you want to do that?"

Miserie's eyes widened. "If the power core is destroyed, the area will collapse?"

Talon nodded. "You've got it. Now you're really cornered. By the time you get back upstairs, everyone will be dead meat. Including you. You'll be passing upstairs on your way to heaven."

Tails bared his teeth, but said nothing. Miserie pointed her finger at the core.

"I'll turn it off." She said, softly.

Amy jerked her head from Miserie to Talon. His emotion hardly changed.

"You're willing to kill Shadow?" He wondered. "You really are one of us."

Knuckles opened his mouth and angrily responded; "She's nothing like"

"No." She said, suddenly. "I'm tired. I'm going to shut off soon. I might as well use this energy to put this thing away for good."

Talon widened his eyes. "What?"

"If Shadow is energized with the power… then he can escape. And besides… " She looked at Knuckles and Amy, "We have to power to leave this area, maybe with a few scratches, but alive."

Talon glared at her. "So you're okay with killing all the people who can't escape up there?"

"…You started this mess." Miserie said, slowly. "You clean it up. If you don't want them to die, then stop me. By all means, turn me off again."

Tails looked surprised. "Miserie!" He cried.

She ignored him, her arm extended, her index finger pointing at the power core and her eyes riveted on Talon.

"…" Talon seemed to be calculating. "Well!" He said. "You might think you're one step ahead, but you're not." He laughed. "Rosemary can teleport without using any energy. So she'll still be alive. And some of our majors can too."

Miserie did not respond. Slowly, she turned her head, looking at the power core. Amy was frozen in her spot. Was she going to do it?

Miserie didn't seem to be showing any emotion at all. Her face was stony, mechanical, not moving. But she could see, leaking out of her eye, a trail of blood. Was she bleeding…? No…

Miserie was crying.

Amy wanted to say something. She tried. Paralyzed. Tails was the only one who didn't seem to be struck by this certain case of paralysis.

"Talon. You can stop this. You can go up there and fix this." Tails said, looking up at Miserie. "She's going to do it. And everyone you know is going to die."

Talon said nothing.

In the silence, one drop of blood hit the ground with a plopping noise.

"…Chaos…" Miserie said, as a ball of energy formed at the end of her finger.

"…" Talon closed his eyes.

Knuckles was suddenly revived from his paralysis. "NO!" He yelped. Her attention did not divert.

"Miserie!" Tails cried.

Amy was finally out of it too. "Don't do it!" she cried.

"Sphere!" The ball was gone. Miserie's eye dulled completely. Amy watched her body go entirely limp.

Then the room was pitch black.

* * *

The room began to quake. Shadow looked around at all the foxes, standing up and cursing and some of them crying.

Sonic was suddenly with him. "…I think they were under some sort of mind control."

Shadow moved slightly, still trapping Eggman in the corner. He had a funny feeling, but he couldn't quite place it. This darkness was impending doom.

"We need to get out of here." He said, to Sonic.

"A giant Chaos Control…" Sonic wondered aloud. "Would it work?"

"I think so." Shadow said. He looked around. "But some of them couldn't be saved by a hedgehog."

Sonic's eyes followed Shadow's right to Rosemary. Her hatred for hedgehogs dragged right through whatever she had just gone through. Shadow could recognize well placed curses being mumbled in a murmuring stream from her mouth.

"What do we do?" Sonic wondered. The shaking increased.

Shadow grimaced. "As Much as I hate this, I'll save these stupid idiots. You go find Miserie and the other guys."

Sonic nodded. He turned away for a couple seconds, then said, "You really aren't all that bad, Shadow."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get used to it." Shadow said. He looked over his shoulder at Sonic, who grinned.

"I won't." Sonic promised. He disappeared.

Shadow turned his attention back to the doctor. "Explain. Fast."

The doctor smirked. "It's just a simple mind control chip. I planted them in the highest of ranks. They radiate from them to the smaller units. Still, you can't stop them. Reinforcements surround us. You won't leave alive."

"YOU won't leave alive." Shadow said, shaking his head. "me, I'm outta here unless you tell me what's going on."

The doctor looked at the crumbling citdael. "The power source has been shorted. It'll destroy the whole area, burying all of us."

"Whose dumb idea was THAT?" Shadow wondered.

The doctor looked angrily at Shadow. "Well, I usually get away with this stuff."

"Yeah, well, tough luck this time. Sonic destroyed your escape route."

"Yeah, right." The doctor said. He laughed. "Do you really think I wouldn't have a second escape route?"

"…" Shadow narrowed his eyes. "So tell me." He said. "What was the point of the ship in the forest?"

"What was the point!" The doctor laughed. "I was trying to kill you! And you know, it almost worked, if you hadn't figured it out. Metal Sonic Beta didn't work out as planned, so I placed him in my shoes- he was a puppet. All I had to do was control him, and I could kill you. And lucky for me, that little harebrained fox was there, and she told me everything I need to know. Then I decided to kill you, but she figured that out too."

Shadow cringed as the foxes joined together in the room, forming a close circle around the Shadow and the doctor, pieces of the ceiling falling and crashing, killing a few foxes. "So all this was never supposed to happen."

"When dealing with you and Sonic, all my plans have been foiled." The doctor said, sarcastically. "I made sure I had the perfect place to kill you… and bury you too. Of course, all your friends came too. This makes it even more… evil."

Shadow knew they couldn't stay inside for too much longer. "Save yourself." He muttered. He pushed the foxes who were trembling in his path out of his way, and roughly grabbed Rosemary's arm. When she tried to pull away, he growled, "consider it a civic duty. I could leave you here to die."

"Then do it!" She hissed.

Shadow glared at her. "I said I could. I'm not going to. Tails can deal with you. You're his mother anyway." He focused on the entire room, then murmured, "Chaos Control!"

* * *

Sonic found his three friends and Talon panicking over Miserie.

"She killed them! She killed them!" Talon was screaming.

"SHUT UP, TALON!" Knuckles cried, punching a huge slab of concrete into oblivion.

"Miserie! Miserie!" Tails was shaking the limp, fallen girl, who was lying on the floor.

"Guys! Snap out of it! Knuckles, watch out!" Amy cried, ordering the group around while frantically looking around. "Sonic!" She cried, as her eyes found his. "You're okay! Where's Shadow? Why isn't he here? Are you sure you're okay?"

Sonic nodded. "I'm okay." He said. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Tails wasn't listening. "Come on, Miserie, snap out of it!"

"…She's gone." Amy told Sonic. "She used up the last of her energy to destroy that." Amy pointed at a sparking machine.

"Owch." Sonic said. "Look. This whole building will collapse. We have to go."

Amy rattled out orders, calling the ragtag group together. Holding on to each other, they disappeared in a bright white light.

* * *

Shadow watched the Building crumble from outside.

"You'll pay for this!" He heard the trademark statement from behind him.

"Whatever." Shadow dropped Rosemary and stalked off.

In front of his eyes, Sonic appeared with their group of friends. "Shadow- are they safe?" Sonic wondered.

"Yeah, they're okay." Shadow said. "I should have left them in there."

Tails looked up at Shadow with watery eyes. "…Miserie's gone." He said.

Shadow blinked his ruby eyes. "Are you saying you left her in there, or she was killed?" Amy produced a limp Miserie. Shadow rolled his eyes. "Just ran out of energy?" He asked. "What are you worried about? She can be fixed."

"Fixed?" Tails sounded horrified.

"Not THAT fixed." Shadow had no idea what Tails was referring to, but though it had something to do with gender changing, "I mean she's not like you guys. She gave me her life energy. So right now, it's like she's on standby."

"Stand-by…?" Amy wondered.

"You know, like a computer. We just need to give her some life again." Shadow took Miserie from Amy.

His white dulled to his normal color, black. Miserie brightened up, and the faded back to a black color. She opened her eyes, all the life back in them.

"…Am I dead, or am I dreaming?" She asked, rubbing her eyes. "Hi Shadow!" She said cheerily, seeing Shadow. "I guess I was dreaming. I had a horrible nightmare."

"Dreaming?" Shadow laughed.

"Sure didn't feel like a dream." Knuckles rubbed his sore legs.

Tails grinned. "That was as real as real could be!"

Miserie jumped out of Shadow's arms. "Was it?" She wondered. She looked over at Talon. "…Oh." She narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing here? Why are you even alive?"

Shadow grinned. "Exactly my thoughts." He said.

"Will you both stop trying to kill people!" Sonic yelled. Quieting down, he said, "Right now, Tails, you have to talk with your mother. And, uh, Knuckles, where's the Master Emerald?"

"OH CRAP!" Knuckles dove into the rubble. Amy hefted her hammer and sighed.

"I'll go bash rocks to pieces." She said.

"We'll help. Right Talon?" Sonic asked. Talon, whose eyes were wide with fear, agreed. "And what about you, Shadow?"

"Why do I have to help?"

"Come on. Consider it a civic duty."

"Funny you should say that." Shadow grumbled, following the troop to save the Master Emerald.

* * *

Tails looked at Miserie. "Guess that leaves us."

"You want to talk to her now… your mother?"

"…I…" Tails looked over at his mother.

"If you don't, you'll regret it. You'll keep wondering what she would have said. Won't you?" Miserie asked, putting her hand on his. "Won't you, Tails?"

"…Yeah, I guess." He nodded.

"Then let's go. Let's go speak with your mother."

Tails took a deep breath, looked at Miserie, and smiled. "Yeah. Let's go talk to my mom."

**The Maria Files… Complete.**

_A/N AWWW IT WAS HORRIBLE DON'T WRITE TO ME, I'M HIDEOUS! –cries- _


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